On the basis of the data of 855 farmer households in the 2020 China Land Economic Survey, this paper uses an extended regression model to empirically study the impact of agricultural socialized services on the reduction in chemical fertilizer and the moderating effect of farm size in the above impact path. The results show that adoption of agricultural socialized services by farmers can significantly promote reduction in chemical fertilizer. The moderating effect test shows that the farm size is instrumental in strengthening the effect of promoting agricultural socialized services on the reduction in chemical fertilizer. The effect of technology-intensive services on fertilizer reduction was more pronounced than that of labor-intensive services. Agricultural socialized services have a greater effect on the reduction in chemical fertilizer for farmers with a higher degree of part-time employment, but farm size can significantly enhance the fertilizer reduction effect generated by the adoption of agricultural socialized services by farmers with a lower degree of part-time employment. Therefore, we recommend further developing agricultural socialized services, strengthening the supply of agricultural green production services, and playing the role of agricultural socialized services in chemical fertilizer reduction. We also posit that encouraging large-scale farmers to adopt agricultural socialized services would further promote fertilizer reduction.
Keywords: agricultural socialized services; chemical fertilizer; farm size; the moderating effect; use intensity.