Under the Household Responsibility System,farm households have become the basic and main micro-level decision making units on human activities in agriculture that affect s ustainable land use and environment in China since1978.Households affect s oil quality and environment via their resources consumption behavior,especiall y agricultural households,via their production decision in choice of land use t ype.The analysis of farm households’choice of land use type and its effectiven ess based on farm household classification could give a high light on the relat ionship between the land use behaviors of farm household and the sustainability of land use and be helpful for the sustainable land use at regional level and n ational level.With the variance analysis and the analysis of different farm ho usehold types,farm households’choice of land use type and its effectiveness we re studied based on the household survey.The spatial calculation of soil qualit y change was analyzed with soil quality data of79surveyed plots in1999(pa rt of data were collected in2000),the underground water table of179surv eyed wells in1999and the soil census data in1980.The household data of 172farms from46villages in2000were collected with classification isome tric sampling based on the ecoeconomic zones,and some other household data in 1995and1998were use d for analysis of household behaviors as well.Some conclusions can be distingu ished as following:Firstly,There were some differences in the choice of land use type amongst farm household types,because off-farm,income,land size,and education level of farm households were the key factors affecting farm household’s choice of land use type.The choice of land use type of the farmers with on-farm employment and low-income was multi-choice of land use type,while that of the farmers with off-farm employment,high-income and good education was the choice of land use type with high economi c benefit and of time-saving.Secondly,land use type choice of farm households at plot level was based on land quality,plot size,etc.Finally,different farm household types had different effectiveness on land quality and environment because of their d ifference s in the choice of land use type,fertilizer input,water resource use ,and treatment of straw.Farm’s behavior in the choice of land use is guided by multiple,often confiding,household objectives,subject to the available res ources,possible productive activities,and external economic and biophysical co nstraints.The government should have some policy to impel the farm households to choose the land use type of sustainability.