Abstract: Based on digital elevation model(DEM) and mathematical programming, the optimal design of farmland division、earthwork calculation and transportation in land leveling project was studied. Taking Hushu land consolidation project of Jiangning county in Nanjing city as a case, a large-scale DEM was generated from digital topographic datasets and farmland was divided into land leveling regions and units, and then the land leveling units elevation、earthwork volume and the barycenter were calculated with DEM in ArcGIS9.3. Finally mathematical programming was applied for solving optimal design of elevation and earthwork transportation. Results showed that the model could reasonably calculate farmland scale, the design elevation of land leveling units and obtained the optimal earthwork transportation thematic map. The new design by the model reduced 9.37% earthwork than the original one. Results indicate that the combination methods of DEM and mathematical programming can improve calculation efficiency and precision of land leveling project, and reduce the project investment.