In order to grasp the research status and industry trend of CVT and electric transmission technology in agricultural machinery, the development history, application status, development bottleneck, and development trend of CVT technology in agricultural machinery were analyzed and summarized. Firstly, the development history of CVT and electric drive in agricultural machinery was reviewed, and the principle of CVT and electric drive system in typical agricultural machinery was introduced. Secondly, the application status of CVT and electric transmission in agricultural machinery was summarized, and some typical agricultural machinery was listed. Finally, in view of the problems existing in the collaborative development of power and transmission, the research and development of lowpower continuously variable transmission systems, the balance between technology and cost, and suggestions for the followup research of CVT and electric drive are put forward. The development trend is discussed. The results show that electric transmission is not enough to replace CVT in the field of agricultural machinery in the foreseeable future. The application of electric drive in agricultural machinery mainly depends on the continuous change of battery and motor technology. The energy acquisition methods of the electric drive will be diversified, such as solar energy, wind energy, and regenerative energy, which may provide power for agricultural machinery. CVT and electric transmission technology may be widely used in unmanned agricultural machinery.