Abstract: Science and technology is the first productive force. Identifying the current level of science and technology in cultivated land protection in China, the international gap and the key directions for future innovation is the key to implement hard measures to protect cultivated land with "teeth". The literature review method was used to systematically sort out the problems of cultivated land in China, the achievements of scientific and technological innovations in cultivated land conservation and the gap between China and the international advanced level. At present, the security of cultivated land resources in China is facing the problems of decreasing quantity, degrading quality, increasing ecological and environmental risks, shortage of reserve resources of cultivated land, and poor spatial layout stability. Although China has relatively mature technical experience in land survey and land information construction, cultivated land quality survey, evaluation, and monitoring technology has being improved day by day, and cultivated land ecological restoration technology continues to develop. There is still a big gap compared with the world's advanced cultivated land protection technology. In the context of the global scientific and technological innovation strategy, China should establish a big data platform for cultivated land protection, build an integrated air-space-ground-network monitoring technology system, develop a cultivated land quality improvement technology system, integrate cultivated land ecological restoration technology systems, implement cultivated land protection technological innovation projects, and strengthen the construction of innovative talent teams to implement the national food security strategy of "storing grain in the land and technology". In the light of the new context and problems, China urgently needs to accelerate scientific and technological innovation in cultivated land conservation to protect China's cultivated land and food security, and contribute to China's stable prosperity and high-quality development.