A revolutionary land management model is being applied across the fields of Northeast China to restore its precious and fertile black soil.

Black soil, characterized by its dark topsoil, is considered the "food basket" of the world because of its rich organic carbon and high degree of productivity. It contributes to 25 percent of China's grain production and one-third of its total grain output, serving as an important pillar of the country's food security.

However, China's black soil has been degraded over the years by poor land management practices and the heavy use of chemical fertilizers.

"The formation process of black soil is extremely slow, requiring hundreds of years to form a 1-centimeter-thick layer under natural conditions," said Jia Zhongjun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Jia is among the experts who have introduced new land management models aimed at restoring China's black soil.

In January, these models won the 2024 Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Award of the CAS.

"It represents the hard work of CAS researchers for decades in soil sciences and their great contributions to the holistic understandings of black soil protection under distinct utilization scenarios," Jia said.