The Differentiation in Cultivated Land Quality between Modern Agricultural Areas and Traditional Agricultural Areas: Evidence from Northeast China

Abstract

Many studies of cultivated land use have focused on evaluating land quality. However, these studies rarely compare cultivated land quality (CLQ) between modern agricultural areas (MA) and traditional agricultural areas (TA). Thus, policymakers sometimes experience difficulties utilizing existing CLQ theories in CLQ improvement, especially in developing countries experiencing the transformation from traditional to modern agriculture. The objective of this study was to build a comprehensive hierarchical framework to compare the CLQ in MA and TA from the multidimensional perspectives of fertility, project, landscape, and ecology. An empirical analysis was conducted in Fujin City, Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. The results showed that comprehensive CLQ in MA is better than that in TA, but individual cultivated land quality results are not the same as comprehensive quality. Specifically, project, landscape, and ecology quality in MA are better than in TA. However, fertility quality in MA is still worse. Moreover, the CLQ in MA tends to be more consistent in a small range, while the spatial pattern of CLQ in TA is disordered. We then argue that these results should be associated with different management modes and agrarian property systems between MA and TA. Based on our findings, four suggestions were generated to improve CLQ. Overall, this study provides a new comprehensive insight for understanding CLQ, and the framework, method, and findings of this study can help increase the effectiveness of CLQ improvements.