Abstract: Abstract: To systematically investigate the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of cultivated land use efficiency in major grain producing areas of China from low carbon perspective, this study took carbon emissions resulting from cultivated land utilization, which acted as an undesirable output, into the measurement framework of cultivated land use efficiency, and quantitatively analyzed the spatial pattern and evolution of cultivated land use efficiency in major grain producing areas from 2000 to 2016. Methods applied in this study include SBM-Undesirable model and kernel density estimation. The results showed that: 1) Carbon emissions resulting from cultivated land utilization in the main grain producing areas and each province all showed upward trend at different rates. The absolute growth of carbon emissions from cultivated land utilization in Henan Province ranked the first, whose carbon emissions changed from 487.40(104 to 806.99(104 t during the period of from 2000 to 2016, with a net increase of 319.59(104 t. Carbon emissions resulting from cultivated land utilization in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang ranked the second and third, respectively. The absolute growth of carbon emissions resulting from cultivated land utilization in Jiangxi Province ranked the lowest, with a total increase of 59.64(104 t during the study period. 2) Cultivated land use efficiency of the major grain producing areas and provinces was reduced significantly when the carbon emissions resulting from cultivated land utilization were taken into account. In the year of 2000 and 2016, the average values of cultivated land use efficiency in major grain producing areas measured by the traditional CCR model were 0.7744 and 0.9179, respectively, while the average efficiency measured by SBM-Undesirable model was 0.6394 in 2000 and 0.8438 in 2016. 3) Cultivated land use efficiency in major grain producing areas showed characteristics with significant spatial disparities. As can be seen from the results calculated by SBM-Undesirable model, 13 major grain producing areas can be divided into 3 types, namely, advantage areas, flat areas and disadvantage areas. Each area differed variously in indicators of input and output during the processes of cultivated land utilization. 4) From the results of kernel density estimation, during the study period, cultivated land use efficiency in the main grain producing areas, including advantage areas, flat areas and disadvantage areas all presented characteristics of skewed distribution and polarization. Meanwhile, compared with the density curve in the year of 2000, the change intervals of the density curve of major grain producing areas, including flat areas and disadvantage areas were smaller in 2016, indicating that the regional gap of cultivated land use efficiency in these areas was narrowed in the period of from 2000 to 2016. However, during this period, the change interval of the density curve of advantage areas was not obvious. Under the background of "low carbon development" and "green development", this study can provide scientific basis and decision-making reference for the efficient and low-carbon use of cultivated land resources in major grain producing areas, which can also be helpful for the sustainable utilization of cultivated land in other regions of China.