Abstract: On the basis of the decoupling methods, with the occupation of the farmland for the urban construction and the non-agriculture GDP as the main indexes, and by re-defining the non-agriculture GDP and improving the decoupled research methods as well, the paper is aimed to conduct an empirical research on the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land occupation in Wuwei City，Gansu Province in terms of the relevant statistical data of the occupation of the farmland for the urban construction and the three industry output values from 1998 to 2012. The results show as follows：（1） There are 5 main types in the relationship between cultivated land occupied for construction purpose and non-agriculture GDP in Wuwei City：Strong and negative decoupling, the expansion of the negative decoupling, the strong decoupling, recession decoupling and the weak decoupling. The periods of strong decoupling and weak decoupling states contribute to 67% of the whole states；there are 6 tenures in the strong decoupling in total. （2） The elastic curve of decoupling takes on “M” type in general, and presents the periodic variation from “non ideal state”，“deformity state” to “ideal state”；and the ideal decoupling state has been found in Wuwei City in recent three years，the economic development has broken away from the economic growth pattern at the expense of the cultivated land resources. （3） The study results and the reasons for decoupling are consistent with the actual situation in Wuwei City, so they have profound practical significances. In conclusion, with the innovated decoupled research methods, which strip off the contribution of non-agriculture GDP from cultivated land occupation and avoid the exaggeration of the pressure of cultivated land occupation in the condition that the increment of non-agriculture GDP is the same and the ratio of cultivated land occupied for construction purpose is different by means of direct adaptation of non-agriculture GDP，the relationship between economic growth and cultivated land occupation can be revealed more accurately.  

Key words: cultivated land occupation, economic development, decoupling analysis, non-agricultural GDP, Wuwei City