As a key component of agricultural socialized services, drone services play a significant role in accelerating the green transformation of agriculture in China. Based on micro-survey data from 810 grain farmers in Sichuan Province, this paper uses methods such as Poisson regression and Probit models to empirically test the impact mechanism of drone service purchase behavior on green production among grain farmers, while also exploring the heterogeneity of farmer groups. The study finds that drone service purchase behavior significantly promotes green production among grain farmers, with the highest marginal effect on the adoption of low-toxicity pesticides, while having a relatively weaker impact on straw return technologies. This conclusion remains robust even after addressing endogeneity issues. Mechanism analysis reveals that drone services enhance farmers’ income by releasing labor and promoting non-agricultural employment, thereby indirectly improving their ability to invest in green production. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive impact of drone services on green production is more significant among larger-scale grain farmers, those in plain regions, and cooperative members. Additionally, there is significant variation in the sensitivity to expenditure across different farmer groups. Based on these findings, the paper suggests three strategies to boost green development in the grain industry: strengthening drone service capacity, unlocking the potential for adopting green production technologies, and advancing the application of drone services.
Zeng et al. (Wed,) studied this question.