In order to achieve the "win-win" situation of development and food, we must solve the contradiction between economic development and cultivated land conversion. This paper provides a reference basis for effective protection of cultivated land resources and minimizing the amount of cultivated land conversion. The land use data of Hohhot in 2010, 2015 and 2020 are used to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of cultivated land conversion in Hohhot. In addition, Granger causality analysis is used to study the relationship between the cultivated land conversion area, urbanization rate and GDP in Hohhot from 2010 to 2020, and master the causal relationship between the cultivated land conversion and economic development in Hohhot. Research conclusions: (1) The banner counties of Hohhot’s high cultivated land conversion area are mainly distributed in the northeastern urban built-up areas, and the overall level of cultivated land conversion in Hohhot presents a spatial distribution pattern of high in the northeast and low in the southwest. (2) GDP and urbanization level are the direct reasons for cultivated land conversion in Hohhot, while cultivated land conversion is the indirect reason for the improvement of urbanization level, but not the reason for GDP growth.