Objective  Sustainable intensification of cultivated land use is one of the most feasible models to alleviate the problems of food security and environmental pressure. Food security is a problem faced by all mankind. As one of the main grain producing areas in China, Liaoning has great practical significance to clarify the status and promote potential of sustainable intensification of cultivated land use, and to carry out level estimation and explore influencing factors.

  Methods  The super efficiency SBM model was used to measure the sustainable intensification degree of cultivated land use in Liaoning Province from 2000 to 2019, and the Tobit model was used to explore the influencing factors and the relevant optimization suggestions were finally put forward according to the content of the article.

  Results  ① The fluctuation characteristics of sustainable intensification degree of cultivated land were obvious from 2000 to 2019, and the overall increase was slight. The research periods were divided into three stages, and the sustainable intensification degrees of cultivated land were 0.932 (2000 - 2007), 0.696 (2008 - 2011) and 0.944 (2012 - 2019), respectively, with the overall change characteristics of “high-low-high”. From the perspective of input/output, the per unit yield of cultivated land in the expected output and the amount of irrigation wastewater in the unexpected output had a great impact on the sustainable intensification degree of cultivated land use. ② After decomposing the sustainable intensification degree of cultivated land use, there was a correlation between scale effect score, pure technical efficiency score and the sustainable intensification degree of cultivated land use. However, compared with pure technical efficiency score, scale effect score had a more significant impact on sustainable degree, and the returns to scale has been increasing. Increasing the input of manpower, material and other factors would significantly improve the sustainable intensification degree during a long time. ③ The educational level of rural labor force at or above senior high school, planting structure and the proportion of agricultural income in the per capita disposable income of rural permanent residents had a significant positive impact on the sustainable intensification degree of cultivated land use, and the correlation coefficients were 0.077, 0.461 and 0.083, respectively. The disaster rate of cultivated land had a significant negative impact, and the correlation coefficient was -1.203. The impact of the other five influencing factors was not significant, but to a certain extent, it could reflect the current situation that the government's investment in agriculture was increasing and the living standards of rural residents were improving year by year, while the number of rural labor force was decreasing.

  Conclusion  The yield of cultivated land must be increased, the amount of irrigation waste must be reduced and the effective regulatory measures must be taken from the perspective of input/output. From the perspective of management measures, the cultivated land protection measures must be implemented, the pest control and green agricultural techniques must be applied, and the policy support and continuous follow-up of corresponding agricultural supporting investment must be given. From the perspective of the implementation subject, the ways for farmers must increase to obtain knowledge, farming mode and crop management technology, to ensure farmers' economic income, to improve the level of sustainable intensification of cultivated land use, and finally realize a virtuous cycle.