["Review of Development Economics, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThe migration of rural laborers to nonagricultural sectors is an important factor shaping agricultural production in China, particularly in the realm of fertilizer use. Yet, how such migration affects fertilizer use efficiency remains inadequately understood and empirically debated. Using panel data from eight major apple‐producing provinces in China between 1995 and 2022, this study evaluates fertilizer use efficiency in apple production and examines the impact of rural labor migration on it. The results reveal that the average fertilizer use efficiency across provinces during the study period is 79.94%, and the rural labor migration rate exhibits an inverted U‐shaped relationship with the efficiency. After addressing endogeneity concerns, the turning point of the migration rate is identified at approximately 35%. Heterogeneity analysis further indicates that the Action Plan for Zero‐growth in Fertilizer Use by 2020 significantly flattens this inverted U‐shaped relationship and lowers its turning point, though no marked regional differences are observed. To improve fertilizer use efficiency, this study proposes targeted policy measures, including alleviating the shortage of skilled laborers, enhancing the technical capacity of apple growers, and reorienting fertilizer‐reduction strategies from quantity control toward efficiency gains.\n"]