Abstract: As a form of credit that is endogenous in the industrial chain, commercial credit in industrial enterprises has been extensively studied, however, the role of commercial credit in agricultural production and operation has been less concerned. Taking the chemical fertilizer application behavior of large-scale grain production farmers as an example, this paper empirically studies the relationship between the business credit endogenous in the industrial chain and the factor input of agriculture large-scale operation based on the unbalanced panel data, so as to clarify the internal logic of agricultural industry development. The results show that under the background of the rising prices of agricultural means of production, the commercial credit enables the large-scale grain production farmers to input in agricultural factors at a lower cost. Compared with bank credit, the commercial credit has obvious comparative advantages in commodity prices and relative transaction costs. On the one hand, its capital price is lower, so the total cost that farmers actually pay for the factor inputs is lower. On the other hand, its repayment mechanism is more flexible, and the relative transaction costs that farmers need to bear are also more limited, which will further optimize the factor input of those farmers being subject to liquidity constraints. In this regard, the government should institutionally provide a good development environment for commercial credit, build an endogenous credit closed-loop in the agricultural industry, and at the same time encourage the development of other forms of credit to improve the resilience of the agricultural industry.

Key words: commercial credit, agriculture scale operation, factor input, bank credit