Soil and water conservation technology plays an important role in soil and water loss control and the construction of the ecological civilization in vulnerable areas. Here, soil and water conservation technology use over 70 years for the Zhifanggou watershed is summarized and ecological, economic and social backgrounds are determined through consultation with experts and reference to published literature. We found that soil and water conservation technology use includes soil and water conservation engineering technology, soil and water conservation cultivation technology and soil and water conservation biotechnology. Soil and water conservation technology utilization varied with people's demands and core problems at different developmental stages of the agricultural eco-economic system. The coupling process of the agricultural eco-economic system at Zhifanggou went through three stages. In stages I and II, soil and water conservation cultivation technology was applied to meet farmers' basic life demands. In stage III, all three technologies were applied comprehensively to solve eco-environmental problems and adjust industrial structure. To facilitate regional ecological civilization construction and sustainable development of the ecological economy and society, more emphasis should be given to research and development, implementation of soil and water conservation technology, stand structure improvement, forest grass quality enhancement, biodiversity, ecosystem functional improvement, development of soil and water conservation ecological resources, the coupling of soil and water conservation, and agricultural industry-resource optimization.