Digitization in Agriculture: Exploring the Impact of Internet Connectivity and Smartphone Access on Grain Food Production: Evidence From Advanced <scp>5G</scp> Economies

ABSTRACT Digitalization has emerged as one of the most significant technological breakthroughs in recent years, influencing various sectors, including agriculture. Globally, digitalization innovation greatly benefits agriculture by providing real‐time weather updates, best farming practices, and market prices. It enhances communication, expands market access, increases production, and facilitates financial services and knowledge transfers. Thus, this paper examines the impact of internet usage, smartphone access, cropland, fertilizer input, and agricultural labor force on grain food production in five leading 5G‐adopted economies, using panel data from 2004 to 2021. We employed the simultaneous quantile regression (SQR) to achieve the research objectives. The findings suggest that internet and mobile usage have a positive impact on grain food production across all quantiles. The crop farming land generally indicates a negative impact on grain food production, the impact becoming stronger at higher quantities, especially in regions with higher production. On the other hand, chemical fertilizers positively influence food grain production, with a greater effect in higher quantities. However, the agricultural labor force shows a mixed influence, with its effects diminishing as grain food production increases. The study's results recommend that digitalization offers substantial benefits and boosts resilience, presenting an opportunity to unlock agriculture's full potential through technology. Governments in the five leading 5G nations may expand internet access in rural and urban areas to promote smartphone adoption, improving efficiency in grain food production.