Exploring the green transition of cultivated land use from the perspective of green utilization efficiency evaluation has become an important content of deepening the study of cultivated land use transition, which is of great significance to promote food security and ecological civilization construction. At present, there are few studies on the green utilization efficiency of cultivated land (GUECL), which covers the comprehensive benefits of economy, ecology and society, combined with the requirements of ecological civilization and green development. Taking 65 cities (regions and autonomous prefectures) of the Yellow River Basin as the basic evaluation unit, the GUECL of the Yellow River Basin is evaluated with a Super-SBM model. In general, the GUECL of the Yellow River Basin was not high at four time points of 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018, which presents a trend of “rising first and then falling”. Analyzing its temporal and spatial evolution pattern, the GUECL in the upper, middle and lower reaches presented an order of the upper reaches area > the lower reaches area > the middle reaches area; and the spatial variation trend showed a decrease from west to east, and a U-shaped change in the south-north direction. Using spatial correlation analysis, except for the year 2000, the GUECL in the Yellow River Basin presents a general distribution characteristic of spatial agglomeration, which is positively correlated in 2006, 2012 and 2018. The change of spatio-temporal pattern is the result of internal and external factors. The former mainly displays in the main characteristics of farmers, family characteristics and farmers’ cognition, while the latter is reflected in natural, social and policy factors.

Sustainable intensification (SI) is a necessary approach to overcome the contradictions between food demands and resource and environmental constraints. We reviewed 2,475 papers on the topic ‘Sustainable Intensification,’ from Web of Science (WOS), with the help of visualizations drawn by CiteSpace and Biblioshiny. The objectives are: (i) to clarify the concept and connotations of SI, and (ii) to draw conclusions on the current situation, hotspots, and trends in SI research. The results show that: (1) Although SI has become one of the most frequently and widely used terms, its precise definition needs to be defined. (2) The number of papers on the topic of SI has been increasing, especially in the last five years. (3) A group of core authors, a representative journal cluster, and a cooperative research network have all been established. (4) Arable agriculture is the main field of SI research.

The study of cultivated land systems from the perspective of resilience is of great significance for the innovation of the research paradigm of cultivated land use and the rational utilization and protection of cultivated land. This study aims to explain the theoretical connotations of cultivated land system resilience (CLSR), construct an evaluation system and zoning rules for CLSR, and take 30 provinces of China as case study areas to explore the influencing factors of CLSR, so as to provide a reliable governance plan for the sustainable development of cultivated land. The results show that: (1) CLSR refers to a sustainable development ability that CLS—by adjusting the structure and scale of internal elements—absorbs and adapts to internal and external disturbances and shocks to the maximum possible extent, abandons the original inapplicable state, creates a new recovery path, achieves a new balance, and avoids system recession. (2) The overall CLSR of the 30 provinces showed an upward trend, and the degree of polarization of the distribution pattern was gradually intensified and experienced a transition process from “leading by resource and ecological resilience—equilibrium of each resilience—leading by production and scale structural resilience”. (3) In the north, east, and south coastal areas of China, CLSR mainly consists of the major evolution areas and the stable development areas; the potential excitation areas of CLSR are mainly concentrated in the central and western regions of China; the CLSR-sensitive lag areas and degraded vulnerable areas are mainly distributed in the northwest and southwest of China. (4) Water resource endowment has a strong influence on CLSR, while social economy mainly influences CLSR through ‘economic foundation-superstructures’ and ‘economic development-factor agglomeration’. (5) According to the different CLSR zones, CLSR was strengthened mainly from the aspects of driving factor agglomeration, building factor free-flow systems, and multi-means support.

The behavior of farming households is the most direct factor involved in the transition of cultivated land utilization from high-input/high-output to green and sustainable utilization mode. Improving farming households’ green utilization efficiency of cultivated land (GUECL) is of great significance in facilitating agricultural green development in China. However, there are few studies on GUECL based on the micro-perspective of farming households that cover the comprehensive benefits to the economy, ecology, and society. This paper builds a theoretical analysis framework of farming households’ green utilization of cultivated land and uses the super-efficiency EBM model and a questionnaire to conduct an empirical analysis of 952 farming households in Shandong Province to evaluate the green utilization efficiency of cultivated land. The results show that the GUECL of the farming households is generally not high, with an average value of 0.67, and can be further improved. The higher the GUECL, the lower the input and undesired output per unit yield and per unit output value. Tobit regression results show that a farming household’s per capita income is significantly positively correlated with the GUECL, while agricultural insurance, agricultural subsidies, cultivated land scale, cultivated land fragmentation, and regional economic level are significantly negatively correlated with the GUECL. In addition, recommendations can be made on promoting and innovating agricultural green development technology, popularizing and publicizing farming households’ thoughts on the green utilization of cultivated land, and ensuring and improving rural green life so as to provide a reference for promoting green transition of cultivated land utilization with diversified coordination and multiple measures.