Virtual Cultivated Land Trade: A New Thinking for Cultivated Land Resources Security

Virtual cultivated land refers to the quantity of cultivated land resources needed during the production of goods and service. This paper chose four kinds of main grain products i.e. rice, maize, wheat and soybean, and calculated their trade volume of virtual cultivated land. The result showed, from 1978 to 2007 the average annual net import of virtual cultivated land came to nearly 4.4 million hectares. Based on econometric equation, import of virtual cultivated land made great contributions to relieving cultivated land pressure, guaranteeing grain security and safeguarding sustainable development of ecological environment in our country.