Abstract: Based on panel data from 105 counties in the Northeast Black Soil Region from 2008 to 2023, this study employs the difference-in-differences method, the mediating effect model and the spatial Durbin model to investigate the impact mechanisms and spatial spillover effects of the implementation of the Black Soil Protection and Utilization Pilot Program on rural household income. The results show that: 1) Temporally, the growth rate of farmers' income in pilot areas is significantly higher than that in non-pilot areas. Spatially, the overall distribution pattern presents Jilin > Heilongjiang > Liaoning > the Four Eastern Leagues of Inner Mongolia; 2) The pilot program for the protection and utilization of black soil plays a significant positive role in increasing farmers’ income. The impact of the black soil protection and utilization pilot program on farmers' income is mainly realized through three paths: improving grain production capacity, optimizing industrial structure, and raising the level of financial marketization. Meanwhile, the mediating effect of financial marketization is markedly stronger than that of industrial structure optimization and grain production capacity improvement; and 3) The spatial spillover effects of the black soil protection and utilization pilot program on farmers' income are characterized by demonstration and diffusion, regional linkage and market premium, which exerts a prominent promoting effect on farmers' income in both local and adjacent areas. On this basis, to realize the regional linkage effect of farmers' income growth in the black soil region of Northeast China, this paper provides the following suggestions: to steadily enhance the income-increasing effect of the black soil protection and utilization pilot program in the future, to attach importance to boosting grain production capacity, and to optimize industrial structure and advancing financial marketization.