Objective To clarify the spatiotemporal characteristics, regional differences and dynamic evolution of digital agriculture development in the 13 prefectures and cities of Xinjiang.

Methods With the statistical data of digital agriculture development in Xinjiang from 2011 to 2020 as the research sample, the entropy method was used to measure digital agriculture development in 13 prefectures and cities of Xinjiang, and the regional differences and dynamic evolution of digital agriculture development in Xinjiang and southern and northern regions were analyzed by Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition and kernel density estimation.

Results (1) Digital agriculture development in the whole Xinjiang and Southern and Northern Xinjiang regions was on the rise; Among them, the average development level of digital agriculture in Northern Xinjiang (0.220) is higher than that in Southern Xinjiang (0.204). (2) The overall regional differences in the development of digital agriculture in Xinjiang gradually narrowed; Among them, Northern Xinjiang showed an inverted "N" type development trend, while Southern Xinjiang showed a "W" type change trend, with large intra-group differences in Northern Xinjiang (mean 0.199) and small intra-group differences in Southern Xinjiang (mean 0.183). The contribution rate of digital agriculture development in the region was the largest (50.792% on average), followed by the contribution rate of transvariation density (38.302% on average). (3) The density curves of the overall digital agriculture development levels in the entire Xinjiang region and in the northern and southern Xinjiang regions have shifted to the right, showing a gradually upward trend. There is a "rightward tailing" feature, indicating that there are areas (prefectures, cities) with relatively high digital agriculture development, such as Urumqi City and Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, and there are also areas (prefectures, cities) within the region with relatively low digital agriculture development, such as Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture and Turpan City, showing certain differences; there is also a polarization phenomenon, among which, the northern Xinjiang region has changed from a single peak to a double peak, while the number of peaks in the southern Xinjiang region remains stable, and the polarization phenomenon is not severe.

Conclusion From the perspective of spatial and temporal characteristics, digital agriculture development in the whole Xinjiang and Southern and Northern Xinjiang regions from 2011 to 2020 shows an overall rising trend, showing an unbalanced pattern of high in the north and low in the south. From the perspective of regional differences, the overall difference contribution mainly comes from intra-group differences. From the perspective of evolution, from 2011 to 2020, the center of the kernel density estimation curve of digital agriculture development in Xinjiang as a whole and in Northern and Southern Xinjiang moved to the right, showing a gradual upward trend, and there were certain differences in Southern and Northern Xinjiang, accompanied by polarization.