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Food production is the basis for ensuring human survival. Ecological compensation for arable land is important to ensure the sustainable use of arable land and food production. However, how is it possible to set the standard of ecological compensation and how to achieve it scientifically? In this paper, we take China as the study area and link the ecological compensation of arable land with the production, circulation and consumption of three staple foods. The amount of food is converted into the area of arable land needed to produce that food. After calculating the value of ecosystem services that support food production on arable land, the ecological compensation standard is obtained, and the realization mode between regions is constructed. The results show that: (1) the flow of staple foods in China is mainly from north to south and the value of arable land support services provided by northern provinces is greater than that of southern provinces; (2) the province that needs to pay the most ecological compensation for cultivated land is Guangdong Province, with an amount of ¥16.082 billion RMB, and the province that receives the most compensation is Heilongjiang Province, with an amount of ¥21.547 billion RMB; (3) in order to coordinate the collection and distribution of ecological compensation in each province, it is necessary to establish an ecological compensation fund for arable land in the central government. Protecting the ecological status of arable land and ensuring sustainable food production is in the overall interest of the country.