Facing the new form and situation of the Huaihe Economic Zone, it is of great significance to analyze the sources of growth and the intrinsic mechanism of the green total factor productivity of its economic-ecological system, to grasp the spatial and temporal characteristics of green total factor productivity, and to study the influence of each factor on green total factor productivity to achieve sustainable economic development in the Huaihe Economic Zone. Based on the clarification of economic growth theory, green economy theory, carbon cycle theory, and green total factor productivity theory, this paper identifies and discusses the limitation that the existing research literature often ignores the endogenous role of carbon sinks when measuring green total factor productivity. Then, the green total factor productivity of Huaihe Economic Zone based on carbon cycle from 2004 to 2017 is measured using the superefficient nonradial SBM model. Combined with the GML productivity index, it is decomposed into technical progress and technical efficiency and analyzed in comparison with the green total factor productivity without considering ecological purification capacity (carbon sink) from the perspective of time and space. Finally, the spatial Durbin model is used to analyze the effects of seven variables, including the level of economic development, environmental regulation, R&D level, and openness to the outside world, on green total factor productivity in the Huaihe Economic Zone, and to analyze the direct and indirect effects of each variable on green total factor productivity. TFP based on expected output carbon sink and GDP overall outperforms TFP based on expected output GDP only, mainly because the growth of technical efficiency is underestimated when carbon sink is not considered. Technical efficiency and technological progress are equally important for the growth of TFP in an eco-economic perspective. It is of great practical significance for both the comprehensive understanding of the green total factor productivity level and the improvement path of the ecosystem and the coordinated and sustainable development of the Huaihe Economic Zone.

With today’s rapid economic growth, the role of agriculture in production and life has come to the forefront. Many problems in China’s agricultural economy have seriously constrained the vitality of Chinese agriculture. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the study of an agricultural economy, inject new impetus into an agricultural development, develop targeted solutions, and lay a solid foundation for the sustainable development of China’s agricultural economy. Therefore, in this paper, based on the theory of sustainable development of an agricultural economy, this paper constructs a sustainable agricultural development index system in Jiangsu province from five aspects of the DPSIR model: driving force, pressure, state, impact and response and uses principal component analysis to make a comprehensive evaluation of the level of sustainable agricultural development in Jiangsu province from 2010 to 2016. The analysis results show that Jiangsu’s agricultural economy is overall better and steadily improving, and it has made a huge leap in the seven-year period from 2010 to 2016, showing better sustainability. We found that the state subsystem exposed some social problems after analyzing the subsystem, and if relevant measures are not taken in time to solve the emerged problems, it will affect the other subsystems and the sustainability of the agricultural economy.