This paper analyzes the agricultural growth paths and direction of technical progress (1978-2011)of 28 provinces in China by using the partial factor productivity index.The result shows that agricultural growth in all parts of China has entered the third phase of “S-shaped growth path” for over 34 years,that is,China’s agricultural growth path in the 21st century has transformed from the land productivity-oriented Asian growth path into the labor productivity-oriented new continental growth path,but the gap of the agricultural factor productivity among provinces is gradually increasing.With the arrival of the “Lewis turning point”,labor costs continue to rise.So developing labor-saving machinical technology to reduce the cost of agricultural production is more important.