Abstract: Soils contain large numbers of rock fragments in the soil matrix of Chinese mountainous farmland. Rock fragments affect physical properties and hydraulic properties of soil, and bring inconvenience to cultivation and management. At present, manual rock picking in farmland is widely adopted to remove rocks in farmland, but the work is hard and the efficiency is low. This paper analyzed the development history and actuality of rock picker in recent years. The picking and separating mechanism and working principle of typical rock piekers in farmland were investigated. The research trend and scheme of soil rock picker suitable for the characteristics of farmland in Chinese mountainous areas were put forward.