An agro-ecosystem is a complex system with ecological, economic and technological functions.Agriculture is a unique tool that relates to both environmental functions and to the development of human society.However, in meeting the needs of society and in providing an impetus for economic development, agriculture has had a negative impact on the natural environment.Modern agricultural production can lead to water shortages, agricultural chemical pollution, soil fertility decline, and global climate change, among other issues.With the increasing scarcity of resources, agriculture is no longer simply an issue of natural resources; for example, environmental costs and climate change are even being incorporated into accounting.To address the problematic relationship of agriculture and natural resources, ecological and environmental studies must consider the problem in terms of sustainable agricultural development.This article describes our comprehensive evaluation of the major crops in Jiangxi Province.We evaluate the crops' ecological and economic efficiency (economic, ecological and economic benefits and ecological pressure) and their development trends to reveal the factors influencing these trends and the ways in which these variables change.The major crops in Jiangxi are rice, cotton and rapeseed.Cost-benefit analysis and value analysis are the basic tools of this analysis.This article builds three indicators, namely, economic benefits, ecological and economic benefits, and ecological stress.The data are based on the average values for the period 2006-2010.To evaluate economic benefits, we analyzed and compared the cost and revenue per unit area.We then set up two economic benefit indices: net revenue per unit area (Rev) and net profitability (Prof).To evaluate eco-economic benefits, we analyzed and compared the energy input and output per unit area, and then set up four energy evaluation indices: emergy input ratio, emergy output ratio, environment loading ratio and macroeconomic emergy value.Based on the results of the emergy analysis, we observed that the planting systems of rice, cotton and rapeseed have a low degree of reliance on renewable environmental resources.In contrast, these planting systems have a high degree of reliance on the purchased input emergy, whose composition is equal to its production cost.The calculation shows that these planting systems have a high emergy input ratio, in which cotton > early rice > late rice > rapeseed.The calculation of the net output ratio of emergy shows that: rapeseed > cotton > late rice > early rice.The calculation of the environmental capacity shows that: late rice > early rice > rapeseed > cotton.Finally, the calculation of the macroeconomic value shows that: rapeseed > cotton > late rice > early rice.Our results show that production cost plays a dominant role for rice, cotton and rapeseed in Jiangxi Province and that price is the most important factor influencing planting cost.For rice, the cost is mainly influenced by production materials, and for cotton and rapeseed, the cost is mainly influenced by manual work.In terms of output value and benefit, the Rev of the crops are: cotton > late rice > early rice > rapeseed, and the Prof of the crops are: late rice > cotton > early rice > rapeseed.The results show that the planting systems of rice, cotton and rapeseed in Jiangxi are highly open systems.The results also show that the planting systems have a high reliance on purchased input emergy, but the systems have a low net emergy output ratio and environmental pressure.These results provide a new perspective on the planting systems of the main crops in Jiangxi Province and have reference value in promoting the sustainable development of agriculture.