It is of great significance to advise the development of farming systems in Hunan Province by investigating the types and evolution process of farming systems. Based on the statistical data of the last 60 years, the features, main modes and layouts, problems and challenges and the development countermeasures of the modern farming systems in Hunan Province were discussed in the present paper. Firstly, the agricultural natural resources, climate resources, crop types, cropping land per person and the development characteristics of modern farming systems in 60 the last years were present. Meanwhile, the features of paddy modern farming systems were analyzed. For instance, the proportion of plantation production to the total agricultural production was gradually reduced, while the proportions of forestry, animal and fishery productions to the total agricultural production were gradually increased. The proportion of grain crop planting area to the total area of crops was decreased, while the proportion of cash crop planting area to the total area of crops was increased. The grain yields of rice were increased in the recent years. The layout of the paddy modern farming systems in Hunan Province was divided into four areas as follows: the northern commodity economy type, the central and eastern suburban type, the southern export-oriented type, and the western feature type. Secondly, some problems were showed during the development process of the modern farming systems, such as lack of the cultivated land resources. In Hunan Province, the cultivated land per person was 0.06 hm2, whereas the paddy fallow area was increased to 1.33?106 hm2. Meanwhile, the challenges emerged during the development process of the modern farming systems, such as the inharmonic economic development and ecological environment and unbalanced regional development. Finally, according to the problems and challenges during the development process of the modern farming systems, some corresponding solution countermeasures were proposed, such as strengthening science and technology input and policy support, coordinating economic development and agricultural ecological environment, promoting multi-cropping systems, improving modern agricultural science and technology system of paddy fields. Therefore, this paper proposed the modern scientific farming systems based on the development strategic adjustment, and provided a scientific reference for enhancing the comprehensive agricultural production capacity and sustainable agriculture development in Hunan Province.