How digital capabilities promote farmers to adopt carbon sequestration technologies in farmland?Microscopic evidence based on grain growers in Shandong Province

Digitization is a strong driving force for high-quality agricultural development. Studying the impact of digital capabilities on the adoption of carbon sequestration technologies by farmers can provide new ideas for achieving “dual carbon” goals in agricultural production. This study constructed a digital capability index from three dimensions: digital access, digital usage, and digital conversion, and used a Oprobit model to empirically analyze the impact of digital capability on farmers’ adoption of carbon sequestration technology on farmland based on micro survey data from 408 growers in Shandong Province. Research has found that, first, the improvement of digital capabilities helped farmers adopt carbon sequestration technologies in their farmland. From a multidimensional perspective, the impact of digital usage capabilities was higher than that of digital access capabilities and digital converstion capabilities, which was a key factor in promoting farmers to implement carbon sequestration technologies in their farmland. Second, enhanced digital capabilities promoted the adoption of carbon sequestration technologies in farmlands through increasing land transfer and improving the level of mechanized production. Third, the promotion of digital technology strengthened the impact of digital capabilities on the farmers’ adoption of carbon sequestration technologies, and the effectiveness of formal promotion was higher than that of informal promotion. Based on this, policy measures such as conducting digital capability training for farmers, developing digital technology application systems, and improving the construction of digital agricultural technology promotion service systems were proposed. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the training of digital capabilities for farmers, pay attention to the differences in the role of digital capabilities in different dimensions, enhance their interactive function with digital technology promotion, and lay a good foundation for China’s green and low-carbon agricultural transformation.