China’s Cultivated Land Balance Policy Implementation Dilemma and Direction of Scientific and Technological Innovation postprint

Abstract: The cultivated land balance policy, which is a remedial measure for the expansion of cultivated land occupied by industrialization and urbanization, is an important part of the cultivated land protection system in China. At present, the cultivated land balance is confronted with the dilemma of the exhaustion of cultivated land reserve resources, the high demand for cultivated land occupied by construction land and ecological land. The alienated behaviors of local government, such as supplementing cultivated land with insufficient quantity and poor quality, has threaten the national food security and ecological security. Under the background of cultivated land protection system transformation, it is necessary to deeply understand the long-term, extreme and complex nature of the contradiction between people and land in China. It is necessary to clarify the irreplaceable role of land balance policy in protecting land resources, optimizing land space, and promoting balanced development between urban and rural areas. We propose that the key solution is to use scientific and technological innovation to systematically recognize arable land and improve the technical support of management. We suggest that: (1) accelerate the formation of a new balance system with cultivated land quality and production capacity as the core; (2) using differential method to manage the balance of cultivated land; (3) research and develop regional engineering technology system of land ecological improvement; (4) improve the monitoring and supervision capacity of key elements of cultivated land resources. In conclusion, China should carry out national cultivated land resources security science and technology projects as soon as possible, that will comprehensively improve the scientific decision-making and intelligent management level of China’s cultivated land protection supervision, and support the development of cultivated land protection in the comprehensive direction of quantity, quality, and ecology.