Abstract: At present, there is a wide range of studies on the cultivated land protection policy, but there is no research on its own structure, so a study on the use of policy instruments for protecting cultivated land opens up a unique perspective for exploring the pathways and features of cultivated land protection. Through constructing a two-dimensional analysis framework of cultivated land protection policy in China, including the dimensions of policy instruments and policy objectives, 181 policy texts of cultivated land protection at national level were measured and coded by using content analysis method. The research showed that, there were more structural mandatory policy instruments and fewer economic-oriented and mutual influenced policy instruments in the cultivated land protection policy. In the trinity stage of cultivated land protection, as the proportion of structural mandatory policy instruments decreased, there was a deficiency in use of tax policy instruments. Therefore, the leading and radiating role of economic-oriented and mutual influenced policy instruments should be brought into full play, and the concept of Trinity conservation of quantity and quality of cultivated land should be strengthened, so as to promote the development and perfect of cultivated land protection policy.

Key words: cultivated land protection policy, policy instruments, policy text, quantitative analysis