Agriculture is one of the three major industries in China, and its level of development occupies an important position in the development of the national economy. At present, China vigorously promotes the strategy of rural revitalization, which provides new opportunities for agricultural modernization. Since modern agriculture and regional economy are coupled in a mutually influencing and constraining relationship, this paper constructs a coupled and coordinated evaluation index system of agricultural modernization and regional economic development. Using the entropy value method and coupled coordination degree model, the comprehensive development level and coordinated development degree of agricultural modernization and regional economic development of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and cities in China from 2011 to 2020 were evaluated, revealing the time evolution and spatial distribution characteristics of the two systems. The results show that: (1) In the past decade, China’s agricultural modernization and regional economy have made some progress in terms of their respective development levels and the degree of coupling and coordination between them. (2) In terms of spatial evolution, there are obvious regional differences between the two systems, and the coupling coordination degree shows a “ladder” distribution pattern from the east to the central, northeastern, and western parts of the country. (3) Regions with a high level of regional economic development also have a relatively high degree of coupling and coordination between agricultural modernization and regional economic development. Our results provide insights into the economic effects of agricultural modernization in China and provide useful insights into the future direction of agricultural development programs in countries around the world.

To cope with huge carbon emission pressure, China has implemented a carbon emissions trading pilot policy that aims to provide reasonable suggestions for the smooth operation of the national carbon market. This paper selects the provincial panel data in China from 2005 to 2019 and uses the propensity score matching-difference in difference (PSM-DID) method to evaluate the carbon emission policy’s reduction effect. Based on carbon emissions (CE) and carbon emission intensity (CI), provinces and cities are divided into four regions, and each region is verified by spatial difference analysis. Furthermore, the mediating effects of carbon emission reduction through the dual aspects of technological progress and industry structure are also discussed. Results verified that, (1) under the carbon emission trading policy, regional carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity are both significantly reduced. (2) Technological progress helps to reduce carbon emissions, while industrial structure shows no obvious contribution. (3) The four regions all show ideal emission reduction effects, of which the High CE-High CI region shows the best, but is greatly restricted by techniques. The industrial structure of the High CE-Low CI region needs to be further optimized for carbon reduction. In the Low CE-High CI region, the carbon emissions brought by economic development fail to effectively improve per capita GDP. The Low CE-Low CI region contributes greatly to carbon emission reduction with technical advantages.

The establishment of a complete carbon ecological compensation mechanism is of great significance for China to achieve “carbon peak and carbon neutrality” as soon as possible. From the perspective of land carbon budget accounting, this paper measures the carbon emissions and the value of carbon ecological compensation in 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, by constructing a carbon ecological compensation model, and analyzes it from both time and space perspectives. The study found that: (1) during the period 2010–2019, China’s carbon absorption remained basically stable, and woodland and grassland were the main carriers of China’s land carbon absorption. The total carbon sequestration of woodland and grassland showed a pattern of being high in the west and low in the east, and the total carbon sequestration of cultivated land showed a pattern of being high in the east and low in the west. (2) Construction land is the main source of carbon emissions in China. Cultivated land carbon emissions mainly come from major agricultural provinces such as Henan and Heilongjiang, while construction land carbon emissions are mainly concentrated in energy-consuming provinces such as Shandong and Shanxi. (3) After revising the carbon compensation benchmark value, it is found that provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu should receive carbon ecological compensation, while provinces dominated by heavy industries such as Shanxi and Shandong need to pay corresponding carbon compensation fees. Finally, this article puts forward corresponding policy recommendations, such as that China should give full play to the role of the government and the market, accelerate the optimization and improvement of the ecological resource asset property rights system, and optimize the development and utilization of land.