To explore the evolution characteristics and driving mechanisms of China’s grain supply chain resilience, based on panel data from 31 provinces in China (The data do not include those of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions,the same below) from 2014 to 2023, this study constructed an evaluation index system and employed the entropy weight method to measure the resilience level of the grain supply chain. The Theil index was used to explore the sources of regional differences, the spatial Markov chain was utilized to characterize state transitions and spatial linkage features, and the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) was constructed to identify driving factors and spatial spillover effects. The results showed that: 1) The resilience of China’s grain supply chain generally exhibited a fluctuating upward trend, presenting an unbalanced spatial pattern of “high in the east, low in the west and stable in the northeast”. 2) The decomposition of the Theil index indicated that the overall difference, inter-group difference, and intra-group difference of grain supply chain resilience were all narrowing, with intra-group differences being the primary source of the overall difference. 3) Spatial Markov chain analysis demonstrated that grain supply chain resilience possesses “path dependence” characteristics and was influenced by the spillover from the status of neighboring provinces. 4) Driving force analysis revealed that basic transportation infrastructure, scientific and technological investment, and digital foundation had significant positive direct effects on local grain supply chain resilience. Among them, the digital foundation served as the core driving force with both local efficiency enhancement and positive spatial spillover effects, while scientific and technological investment showed negative spatial spillovers due to barriers in achievement transformation. Additionally, financial support for agriculture supported local resilience but exhibited negative spatial spillover. In conclusion, it is suggested to strengthen digital empowerment to consolidate the foundation of full-industry chain synergy, optimize regional linkage mechanisms to balance policy spillover effects, and formulate differentiated resilience enhancement paths for the eastern, central, and western regions to fortify the national grain security defense line.
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