Abstract: The connotation of agricultural new quality productive forces was described from three dimensions: labor, means of labor, and objects of labor. The entropy weight method was employed to measure its development level from 2012 to 2022. Furthermore, the exploratory spatial analysis, Dagum Gini coefficient method, and spatiotemporal convergence models were utilized to reveal the regional disparities, spatiotemporal evolution, and convergence of agricultural new quality productive forces in China. The results showed that from 2012 to 2022, the development of agricultural new quality productive forces showed a slow growth trend. Influenced by the low level of new quality means of labor, the overall productivity remained at a medium-low level, but it began to transition to a medium-high level development stage starting from 2020; the development of agricultural new quality productive forces in China exhibited regional imbalances, with the largest disparity between the eastern and western regions, followed by the central and western regions, and the smallest between the eastern and central regions; the spatial aggregation effects of agricultural new quality productive forces in China were primarily characterized by high-high and low-high clustering; agricultural new quality productive forces at the national level and in the eastern, central, and western regions all exhibited σ-convergence, absolute β-convergence, and conditional β-convergence. Factors such as economic development level, industrial structure, digital inclusive finance index, and urbanization rate had heterogeneous impacts on the development of agricultural new quality productive forces in different regions. It was essential to leverage scientific and technological innovation to accelerate the development of agricultural new quality means of labor, address the shortcomings in the development of agricultural new quality productive forces, explore new mechanisms for resource sharing and coordinated development among regions, and expedite the leapfrogging of agricultural new quality productive forces.

Key words: agricultural new quality productive forces, spatiotemporal evolution, regional disparities, convergence trend