Clarifying the linkage of rural households’ agricultural specialization and dietary diversity is crucial for promoting agricultural transformation and development, and improving food security and dietary quality among rural residents. A household dietary survey was conducted to investigate this association in rural China. The findings indicate that agricultural specialization is linked with decreased dietary diversity among smallholders. The decline in farm production diversity underscores the crucial role that markets play in shaping the diets of farm households. The heterogeneous analysis unveils the mediation effect of market on the relationship between agricultural production and food consumption and further confirms the importance of market access to smallholders’ dietary diversity. The results indicate that against the backdrop of agricultural specialization and a significant rural-to-urban migration, A series of complementary measures should be implemented for smallholders’ food consumption welfare. The stable food market availability is a key strategy for ensuring adequate dietary diversity for rural residents.

厘清农户粮食生产与食物消费的关系，对加快农业转型发展，巩固粮食安全形势，促进农户膳食营养改善意义重大。本文基于2021年河南、湖北、山东、河北四个农业大省1390个农户膳食调查样本，借鉴不完全市场下生产消费不可分的小农户模型，从农户农业生产多样性的角度探讨发现农业专业化会导致小农膳食多样性下降。农业生产多样性的下降突显了食物市场在塑造农户膳食消费方面发挥的关键作用。进一步异质性分析，揭示了食物市场在生产-消费关系中的调节作用。研究结果表明，在农业专业化和农村人口城镇化迁移的背景下，需要采取一系列措施来提高小农户的食物消费福利，稳定的食物市场供应是确保农村居民膳食多样性的一项关键战略。