[Objective] Calculation of ecological and social benefits of cultivated land resource utilization can provide reliable basis for the standard economic compensation at the expense of land protection. [Methods] Based on the data of 2000, 2005 and 2010, this paper calculated the theoretical ecological and social benefits using the methods of equivalent factor method and shadow price. The realistic ecological and social values of the cultivated lands were amended by social developmental phase coefficient of different grades of the cultivated lands. [Results] The results showed that the theoretical value of ecological and social benefits per hectare were 25 032.31 RMB in 2000, 34 879.15 RMB in 2005, 43 700.38 RMB in 2010, respectively. In which proportion of social benefit increased from 15.53 % in 2000 to 21.10% in 2010, while the proportion of social benefit decreased from 84.47% in 2000 to 79.90% in 2010.The low, medium and high qualities of cultivated lands had realistic values per hectare of ecological and social benefit were 7 219.69, 1 1130.42 and 18 039.25 RMB in 2005, respectively. [Conclusion] There exists a gap between the real ecological and social benefit of unit area of arable land and the theoretical value. Whereas, the formulation of compensation standard of ecological social benefit from per unit area of arable land should comprehensively consider the economic and social development, the quality grade of regional cultivated land and the local people's willingness to pay.