Food security is among the most fundamental of national interests and productive farmland is essential for secure grain supply. With the increase of agricultural intensification and the impact of global climate change, the soil in the earth is facing various degradation problems such as compaction, acidification, and salinity. Such soil degradation is usually caused by inadequate or excessive fertilizer input and insufficient litter return to boost soil organic matter, resulting in food insecurity and a need for more sustainable management. Thus, improving soil quality or health is foundational for sustainable crop production, provide greater internal capacity to reduce external input and resistant to environmental changes. As soil is a complex and multicomponent system, the effect of single practices on soil quality are limited and systems engineering by incorporating various innovations and practices to improve soil quality and crop yield is required. Therefore, it is imperative to demand holistic research from multiple disciplines to minimize soil degradation while simultaneously promoting soil health and crop production.

In recent years, China has experienced an alarming scale of loss and deterioration of arable land. The total area of farmland has declined from 135 Mha in 2009 to 128 Mha in 2019, with a 5.6% decrease in only 10 years. Also, more than two thirds of the farmland consist fields producing only low to medium yields as they are affected by various soil degradation problems including compaction, salinization, and acidification. Therefore, protecting or preserving the farmland is an essential task in China to meet the demands of food self-sufficiency. This special issue of 8 articles presents the substantive progress that China has made in remediating soil degradation and improvement of farmland quality. The regenerative solutions for rebuilding fertile soils and developing a framework for improving soil health are discussed.