The issue of capital shortages among new agricultural entities is not adequately addressed by existing financing models

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the recommendations and future work and stated research gap of the source papers, classified as general, spanning 2 journals. Those papers have been cited 9 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 5 representative gaps

• Digital inclusive finance, digital literacy, and agricultural industrial structure upgrading in China (2026) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · doi

  7.1 Conclusion Using panel data from 31 Chinese provinces over 2011–2023, this study systematically examines the effect of digital inclusive finance on agricultural industrial structure upgrading, and further analyzes its underlying mechanisms, the moderating role of rural residents’ digital literacy, and heterogeneity across different contexts. The main findings are as follows. First, digital inclusive finance significantly promotes agricultural industrial structure upgrading. The baseline estimates show that, after controlling for province fixed effects, year fixed effects, and relevant covariates, the coefficient on digital inclusive finance remains positive and statistically significant. This core finding continues to hold after applying an instrumental-variable approach to mitigate potential endogeneity. It is also robust to a series of additional checks, including winsorization, trimming, excluding municipalities directly under the central government, accounting for the COVID-19 shock, and intro- ducing lagged specifications. Second, digital inclusive finance significantly enhances credit accessibility, promotes the integration and extension of agricultural value chains, and strengthens the capacity to market agricultural prod- ucts through digital means. These findings provide empirical evidence for understanding the possible channels through which digital inclu- sive finance affects agricultural industrial structure upgrading. Third, rural residents’ digital literacy positively moderates the effect of digital inclusive finance on agricultural industrial structure upgrading. Specifically, the positive effect of digital inclusive finance becomes stronger as rural residents’ digital literacy increases. Higher digital literacy helps reduce the technology-use costs associated with digital financial services, thereby enabling digital inclusive finance to more effectively lower transaction costs throughout agricultural pro- duction and operation. Fourth, the heterogeneity analysis further shows that the effect of digital inclusive finance on agricultural industrial structure upgrading remains relatively stable across regions with different agricultural functions and different levels of digital economy development. The estimated coefficients are positive and statistically significant in both major and non-major grain-producing areas, as well as in regions with high and low levels of digital economy development. 7.2 Policy implications Based on the above findings, policy design should focus on short- term targeted adaptation, medium-term capacity building, and long- term institutional coordination, so as to enable digital inclusive finance to better support agricultural industrial structure upgrading. In the short term, policy should improve the precision with which digital inclusive finance supports agricultural industrial structure upgrading. In policy implementation, digital inclusive finance should not be understood simply as an expansion of financial coverage; greater attention should be paid to how well it matches the specific needs of agricultural industrial upgrading. In the financing stage, digital credit products should be better adapted to agricultural production cycles, small and dispersed financing needs, and the risk characteristics of agricultural opera- tions, so as to lower the threshold for agricultural producers to access formal financial services. In the production organization stage, digital financial services should be more effectively embed- ded in agricultural product processing, value chain coordination, and the connection between production and sales, thereby sup- porting the extension of agriculture from primary product supply toward processing-based value addition and value chain expan- sion. In the product marketing stage, digital payment, online sales, and market information services should be improved to help

  generalrecommendations
  Keywords: digital agricultural finance inclusive industrial upgrading structure effect literacy value financial services policy term rural
• Ensuring food security: how does digital inclusive finance affect the new quality productivity of grain (2026) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · cited 3× · doi

  6.1 Key findings and discussion This study systematically examines the impact of DIF on China’s new-quality productive forces in agriculture through theoretical analysis and empirical testing. Key findings include: First, the results of benchmark regression and robustness tests confirm that DIF significantly promotes the new quality of agricultural productivity. This finding aligns with emerging research focusing on fintech’s role in empowering high-quality agricultural development (Jia and Guo, 2024). However, by adopting a more refined sectoral focus (grain production) and a more rigorous endogeneity treatment (instrumental variables approach), this study provides more robust empirical evidence, deepening our understanding of digital finance’s practical utility within specific foundational industries. Second, the mechanism analysis reveals that DIF primarily exerts intermediary pathways: “enhancing its effects through two technological innovation levels” and “alleviating the constraints of agricultural fragmentation to promote intensification.” The former validates the critical role of financial support in agricultural technology R&D and adoption (Tang et al., 2020), while the latter highlights

  generalrecommendations
  Keywords: agricultural quality empirical role discussion systematically examines impact china productive forces agriculture theoretical testing include
• Ensuring food security: how does digital inclusive finance affect the new quality productivity of grain (2026) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · cited 3× · doi

  The theoretical contributions of this paper are primarily reflected in the following three aspects: First, it applies the theory of new-quality productive forces to the specific agricultural sector, constructing an analytical framework for new-quality productive forces in food production from the perspective of qualitative leaps in the “laborer- means of labor-object of labor” dynamic. This expands the empirical boundaries of the new-quality productive forces theory. Second, it reveals the dual intermediary mechanism through which DIF impacts in agriculture, clarifying the new-quality productive forces “finance-technology-alleviation of transmission pathway of fragmentation-productivity” and deepening theoretical understanding of finance’s role in empowering high-quality agricultural development. Third, it identifies the nonlinear characteristics and heterogeneous conditions of DIF’s effects, providing empirical evidence for understanding its differentiated outcomes across regional and structural variations. Based on these conclusions, the paper proposes the following policy recommendations: (1) Strengthen the development of digital inclusive financial infrastructure. The development of DIF relies on robust infrastructure. Governments should increase investment in rural infrastructure such as network communications and smart devices to enhance the quality and stability of rural network coverage while reducing the cost of digital device usage. This will enable more farmers and agricultural operators to conveniently access and utilize digital financial services. Concurrently, efforts must be made to strengthen data security and privacy protection by establishing robust legal frameworks and regulatory mechanisms. Ensuring the security of DIF data and safeguarding user privacy rights will create favorable conditions for the deeper application of DIF in the grain production sector. (2) Establish a Collaborative Mechanism for DIF and Technological Innovation. Deepening cooperation between financial institutions and agricultural technology enterprises, research institutes, and other entities, we will establish a multi-departmental coordination mechanism to promote the deep integration of DIF and agricultural technological innovation. Financial institutions can develop specialized financial products and services for agricultural technology innovation projects, providing low-cost, long-term funding support to advance agricultural technology R&D and dissemination. Leveraging big data analytics and artificial intelligence technologies from DIF, these institutions can conduct precise evaluations and risk monitoring of agricultural technology innovation projects. This enhances the accuracy and effectiveness of financial support, drives continuous progress in grain production technologies, and elevates the new quality of agricultural productivity. (3) Optimizing the Regional Development Layout of DIF. Develop differentiated strategies for DIF based on each region’s economic development level, traditional financial infrastructure, and grain production characteristics. For areas with underdeveloped traditional financial systems, intensify policy support through fiscal subsidies and tax incentives to guide financial institutions in increasing investments in DIF. This will expand service coverage and enhance the accessibility and convenience of financial services. In major grain-producing regions, further strengthen the integrated development of DIF with the grain industry. Provide diversified, customized financial solutions across the entire grain production chain—including cultivation, processing, storage, and sales—to bolster support for critical production stages and new agricultural business entities. This will promote industrial transformation and upgrading while enhancing the new productive capacity of the grain sector.

  generalrecommendations
  Keywords: financial agricultural quality grain production development productive technology forces infrastructure innovation institutions support sector mechanism
• Digital villages and agricultural green total factor productivity: a supply-side and demand-side mechanism analysis (2026) · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · cited 3× · doi

  it reduce price fluctuation of agricultural domestic distribution in large of market. Finance Trade Res. 34, 55–66. doi: 10.19337/j.cnki.34-1093/f.2023. 01.005 Zhang, M., Wu, Z., Su, Z., and Zhang, Y. (2025). How does digital economy promote the high-quality and high-benefit development of agriculture? — —Evidence from sample data of 30 Chinese Provinces. Manag. Rev. 37, 16–27. doi: 10.14120/j.cnki.cn11-5057/f.2025.12.002 Zhang, Z., Hu, T., and He, J. (2025). Digital rural construction and agricultural green land resource misallocation, total factor productivity: the role of land finance, and agricultural 13:1611339. technology doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1611339 innovation. Front. Environ. Sci. Zhou, X., Chen, T., and Zhang, B. (2023). Research on the impact of digital agriculture development on agricultural green total factor productivity. Land. 12:195. doi: 10.3390/land12010195

  generalfuture work
  Keywords: agricultural zhang land digital cnki high development agriculture green total factor productivity reduce price uctuation
• An Evolutionary Game Theory Analysis of Accounts Receivable Financing Models for China’s New Agricultural Entities in Supply Chain Finance (2026) · Mathematics · doi

  The issue of capital shortages among new agricultural entities is not adequately addressed by existing financing models. The agricultural supply chain is incomplete, and information communication is obstructed, contributing to uneven development in rural regions. The study identifies the need for a novel solution to mitigate financing constraints faced by new agricultural entities.

  generalstated research gapevidence 5/5
  Keywords: issue capital shortages among new agricultural entities adequately

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