Abstract: Agriculture is the foundation of the national economy, the sustainable development of agri-culture is the essential ensurance and basic prerequisite of the sustainable development of the na-tional economy. Sustainable agriculture is the most suitable and the ideal agricultural model forthe present agricultural situation and the future agricultural development in the world, it ischaracterized by ecological suitability, technological feasibility, economic rationanlity and socialacceptability. Ecological agriculture in China has been developed from the experimental stage in 1980 s into the construction stage of the ecological agriculture counties in 1990 s, and its con-tents are continuously extended and enriched in the practice. In this paper, the background andconcepts of ecological agriculture and sustainable agriculture are systematically discussed. Bycombining the case study in arid areas, it is thoughted that sustainable agriculture is a kind ofcompletely new concept of agricultural development, is the tendency of agricultural develop-ment, is the tendency of agricultural development in future in the world; the ecological agricul-ture in China is an effective practice model of sustainable agriculture. It is suggested to closelycombine the development of ecological agriculture with the industrial structure of agriculture, tobuild a developed market agriculture, and to push the sustainable development of agricultureand rural economy in China forward.

Key words: ecological agriculture, sustainable agriculture, rural economy