The Implementation Path for a Policy Balancing Cultivated Land Occupation and Reclamation Based on Land-Type Classification—A Case Study in Heilongjiang Province

Food security is a fundamental issue that has long been of great concern, and cultivated land resources are the core elements of food security. In recent years, the problem of “non-agriculturalization” and “non-grain” conversion of cultivated land has become prominent. The need for further strict control of cultivated land use has gained significant attention from the government and academia. Recently, it has been proposed in China that all forms of cultivated land occupation should be integrated into the management policy for balancing cultivated land occupation and reclamation. In this study, the concept of provincial-level land-type classification, along with agricultural land potential productivity evaluation, is adopted to determine the optimal scheme for balancing cultivated land occupation and reclamation. Thus, an analysis of the optimization scheme for implementing the cultivated land occupation and reclamation balance policy in Heilongjiang, along with a macro-level layout of this balance scheme, is carried out at the provincial level. The results show that the land-type classification system constructed from five dimensions—climatic conditions, geomorphic conditions, geological conditions, edaphic conditions, and hydrologic conditions—as well as the agricultural land potential productivity evaluation system constructed based on land types, can effectively identify the potential cultivated land utilization space in Heilongjiang Province. Based on the zoning of land suitable for farming, the cultivated land in unsuitable farming areas in Heilongjiang should be transferred out (403.01 km 2 ) and, according to the principle of the balancing cultivated land occupation and reclamation policy, the non-cultivated land in highly and moderately suitable farming areas should be transferred in (249.80 km 2 and 163.39 km 2 , respectively) to achieve balance. The results can provide reference for the implementation of the cultivated land occupation and reclamation policy at the provincial level, as well as for promoting the implementation of the strategy of “storing grain in the land”.