The pilot project of protection and utilization of black land in Northeast China begins.

The northeast is one of the only three major black soil regions in the world. The grain output of the four provinces (regions) accounts for 1% of the country's total output, which is the "ballast stone" of national food security. In recent years, due to the long-term high-intensity and overload use of black soil, the increase of crop yield has also brought about the loss of black soil, the decrease of cultivated land fertility and soil microbial activity, as well as soil impoverishment, acidification, salinization and pollution, which seriously affected the sustainable development of agriculture in Northeast China and the food security of our country. In order to do a good job in the protection and utilization of black land in Northeast China, we should highlight "control, increase, protection, and maintenance" in the path, and strive to achieve the goal of "three improvements": by 2020, the fertility of cultivated land in the project area will be increased by more than 0.5 grades, and the content of soil organic matter will be increased by 0.5%. The thickness of the tillage layer is increased by more than 10 cm.

In 2015, the central government allocated 500 million yuan to support 17 major grain-producing counties in Northeast China to carry out pilot projects for the protection and utilization of black land, so as to implement the important task of protecting and improving the quality of cultivated land.