The digital economy is profoundly affecting rural development, so analyzing and evaluating the impact of digital village development on agricultural management transformation is of great significance. Based on the “Thousand-village Survey” by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and the “County-level Digital Rural Index” by Peking University, this paper investigates the impact of digital village development on agricultural management transformation. The findings indicate that digital village development significantly promotes agricultural management transformation. Mechanism testing reveals that this effect is mainly achieved by enhancing market accessibility and the driving effect of e-commerce platforms. Furthermore, the promotion effect is stronger in villages with well-educated residents and a lower degree of aging.

The policy suggestions of this paper are as follows: First, it is essential to continue advancing digital village development, fully leveraging its pivotal role in rural revitalization. Second, while promoting digital village development, priority should be given to enhancing the human capital of farmers. Additionally, more supportive measures should be actively provided for regions with low-educated residents and a higher degree of aging, so as to ensure their equal benefit from the digital dividend. Third, efforts should be made to continue to strengthen the link between market accessibility and e-commerce platforms, with a focus on enhancing the connectivity between urban and rural markets and the construction of e-commerce platforms, so as to drive agricultural management transformation.

The contributions of this paper are as follows: First, by matching the micro data of the “Thousand-village Survey” by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and the “County-level Digital Rural Index” by Peking University, it provides micro empirical evidence of the impact of digital village development on agricultural management transformation, enriching the research on the impact of digital village development. Second, based on the nationally representative micro farmer survey data, it investigates the driving mechanism of agricultural management transformation, providing a path reference for accelerating the construction of a new type of agricultural management system. Third, it enriches the research on the transmission mechanism of the impact of digital village development on agricultural management transformation.