Digital Technology Usage and Family Farms’ Uptake of Green Production Technologies—Evidence from Citrus Family Farms in Jiangxi Province

The adoption of green production technologies is crucial for achieving sustainable agricultural development. However, farmers often encounter obstacles including technological complexity, budgetary constraints, and information asymmetry during the promotion. Digital technology adoption on a large scale provides a practical way to get over these challenges. This study utilizes survey data from 432 family farms in Jiangxi Province’s primary citrus-producing regions to systematically examine the impact of digital technology usage on farmers’ adoption of water-fertilizer integration technology within green production practices. It focuses on adoption probability, duration, and scale while exploring underlying mechanisms. Benchmark regression results indicate that digital technology usage significantly increases farmers’ probability of adopting water-fertilizer integration by 23.5% to 39.8%, extends adoption duration by 42.7% to 57.4%, and expands adoption scale by 16.7% to 29.1%. A series of robustness tests consistently supports these findings. Regarding the mechanism: Digital technology usage increases the adoption of water-fertilizer integration by enhancing farmers’ perceptions of economic, social, and environmental benefits. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the promotional effect of digital technology on water-fertilizer integration is more significant among farmers who are highly educated and young, with lower capital (total capital expenditures on saplings and agricultural machinery) and lower land fragmentation levels. Furthermore, the promotional effect of digital technology on water-fertilizer integration adoption is only significant in the small-scale operation sample group. According to the study, a three-pronged strategy—digital empowerment, socialized services, and skills training—can hasten the widespread adoption of water-fertilizer integration in important citrus-producing regions.