Farmland ecosystem serves dual roles as a carbon source and carbon sink,underscoring the importance of examining its carbon footprint for the advancement of high-quality agriculture. We developed a carbon footprint model incorporating the carbon source & sink approach to assess spatiotemporal evolution traits and investigated regional disparities and convergence tendencies using the Dagum Gini coefficient and σ tests. The results showed that: 1) Carbon emissions from farmland in the Yellow River Basin generally exhibit an initial increasing trend followed by a decrease,averaging an annual growth rate of 0.94%,whereas the carbon sink has shown a consistent upward trajectory,averaging an annual growth rate of 2.41%. The carbon footprint generally showed a fluctuating decline,dropping by 17.80%,and displayed a spatial distribution characterized by higher values in the northeast and lower values in the central and western regions. 2) The average contribution rates of inter-regional and intra-regional disparities to the overall differences were 26.86% and 59.84%,respectively. 3) Significant σ convergence characteristics are observed in the lower reaches,while no clear convergence is evident in other regions. Given the significant spatial variability,a shift towards a coordinated low-carbon development strategy for the Yellow River Basin's farmland ecosystems is recommended.