The upgrading of agricultural industry structure is divided into rationalization and optimization，and the theoretical mechanism of rural labor force aging affecting the upgrading of agricultural industry structure is expounded.Then，based on the provincial panel data from 1997 to 2019，the static two-way fixed effect model and the systematic GMM estimation method are used to empirically test the theoretical mechanism，and the method of replacing key explanatory variables is used to test the robustness.The results show that aging of rural labor force significantly reduces the rationalization and optimization of agricultural industry structure，which is not conducive to its upgrading. Also， aging of rural labor force hinders the upgrading of agricultural industry structure through two mechanisms：reducing human capital and impeding technological progress. Therefore，in order to alleviate the labor force quality and quantity constraints caused by the aging of rural labor force ，accelerating the cultivation of new professional farmers and increasing the agricultural knowledge and technical training of rural labor force are important ways to promote the upgrading of agricultural industry structure.