Abstract:
The Black soil region of Northeast China is one of the main Black soil belts in the world. It is the main grain producing area in China and has made great contributions to ensuring national food security. In recent decades, the degradation of cultivated land quality such as “thinning, barrening and hardening” in the Black soil regions has seriously restricted the improvement of grain production capacity. A reasonable and scientific understanding of the black soil resources and taking effective measures to protect and utilize the black soils have become the key to the sustainable development of agriculture. However, the complexity of the geographical location, natural environment, agricultural production, and soil resources in Northeast China has hindered the scientific formulation and smooth implementation of soil protection and utilization policies. In this paper, the Black soil regions were classified into six types: Songnen plain region, Sanjiang plain region, Liaohe plain region, Changbai mountain and eastern Liaoning region, Western sandy region and Daxing'an and Xiaoxing’anling region, The characteristics of geography, climate and soil composition in different types of regions were summarized. The main problems faced by different types of regions were discussed from the aspects of climate, agricultural production and soil limiting factors. The protection and utilization patterns applicable to different types of regions were analyzed and summarized, in order to provide reference for coordinating the contradiction between black soil protection and productive capacity improvement.