Digital technology innovation and agricultural industry chain resilience: implications for food security

Abstract

Food security is increasingly threatened by climate shocks, market volatility, and geopolitical disruptions. A resilient agricultural industry chain is critical to ensuring a stable food supply, yet empirical evidence on how firm-level digital technology innovation enhances such resilience remains scarce. Using micro-level data from Chinese agricultural firms over the period 2010–2025, which comprise 69 listed agricultural firms with 714 firm-year unbalanced panel observations, this study examines the impact of digital technology innovation on agricultural industry chain resilience. The results show that digital technology innovation significantly improves chain resilience, a finding that remains robust across multiple tests. Mediation analysis confirms that this effect operates through firm operational efficiency and market expectations. Heterogeneity analysis is conducted along two dimensions, namely regional heterogeneity and firm heterogeneity. Significant positive effects are found in eastern regions, urban agglomerations, and non-old-industrial bases from the regional perspective, and in non-state-owned, large-scale, and mature enterprises from the firm perspective. These findings provide empirical evidence for food-security-oriented policies that promote agricultural digitalization while addressing structural weak links in the food system.