Abstract:
Black soil region in Northeast China is one of the four large black soil regions in the world, with 35.84 million hm
2 of cultivated land. The grain output in this region accounts for a quarter of total output and a third of commercial grain in China, making the important contribution to the country's food security. Soil erosion and overused patterns have led to the thinning of topsoil layer, depletion of soil organic matter, acidification of soil, deterioration of soil structure, and degradation of ecological functions, resulting in the topsoil ‘thinned, barren and hardened’. Due to the less cultivated land reserve resources, high proportions of medium and low yield farmland and insufficient farmland infrastructure in this region, ensuring national food security and improving the quality of cultivated land were the most opportunity and the biggest challenge. The main countermeasures have been given to improve the quality of cultivated land in the black soil region, including strengthening the soil erosion control to prevent black soil tillage layer thinning, applying more organic materials to ensure soil organic matter decreasing, balancing fertilization and soil improvement to curb soil acidification. We still need to strengthen the construction of high-standard farmland to increase the quality of cultivated land and make more management policies to protect the sustainable use in black soil region.