Sino-Dutch Dairy Mission to Guangzhou

With the coordination of the Guangdong Dairy Industry Association, we paid the visit to Fengxing Huamei Dairy Farm in the morning. The representatives from the dairy association and Bureau of Commerce of the Guangzhou municipality government also joined our visit. They warmly welcomed our delegation and stressed the importance of the cooperation between NL and Guangdong in the dairy sector. 

Yuexiu Fengxing Foods own Fengxing Dairy farm. The company was established in 1927, one of the oldest dairy enterprises in China. Huamei Dairy Farm is located in Conghua, 70 KM from Guangzhou city. Mr. Huang Hengxin, Director of Animal Husbandry Business Department, received our delegation and guided the tour of the farm. According to Mr. Huang, Fengxing Dairy has two large modern farms in Guangzhou. Both are located within 60 kilometers of the dairy processing base so that the raw milk can be processed within 1 hour and from the farm to the product within 12 hours. Since 1983, Fengxing Dairy has introduced high-quality dairy cows from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, etc., and implemented advanced free-stall breeding technology from the EU and advanced equipment and facilities such as the DeLaval automatic scraping system. Fengxing Dairy has cultivated high-yielding dairy cow breeds that adapt to the subtropical climate in South China. Fengxing Huamei farm is the first one in China to install DeLaval milking equipment and implement EU fresh milk standards and antibiotic residue testing. Fengxing is also the standardized demonstration dairy farm in China and the first national fine-bred dairy farm in South China. The company imported high-quality feed such as alfalfa and oat grass and applied the TMR feeding management technology to prepare a nutritious and safe meal for the cows. They also use a world-class instant cooling system, so the fresh milk can be quickly cooled to 4°C or lower, ensuring the freshness and safety of the milk. Currently, the average annual yield of an adult cow is 8 tons, the number of bacteria per ml of fresh milk is less than 10,000, and the number of somatic cells is less than 200,000.

Fengxing Dairy implements environment conservation and protection policies. The design of the cowshed is also adaptive to the subtropical climate in Guangdong and implementing the most energy-saving and least emission designs for heat stress prevention and cooling, environmental protection, and stable milk quality. Starting with the formula of dairy cow rations, Fengxing regulates environmental protection, recycling the waste and processing it into high-quality organic fertilizer and biogas for power generation. The environmental conservation plan of the company was selected as an excellent case of the "2014 Direct to Paris Climate Conference".

Fengxing Dairy implements environment conservation and protection policies. The design of the cowshed is also adaptive to the subtropical climate in Guangdong and implementing the most energy-saving and least emission designs for heat stress prevention and cooling, environmental protection, and stable milk quality. Starting with the formula of dairy cow rations, Fengxing regulates environmental protection, recycling the waste and processing it into high-quality organic fertilizer and biogas for power generation. The environmental conservation plan of the company was selected as an excellent case of the "2014 Direct to Paris Climate Conference".

Experts of the 3 Dutch companies also introduced to Mr. Huang their products and services, technical advantages, and the direction of future cooperation with Fengxing. Mr. Huang expressed great interest and revealed that Fengxing is developing Zengcheng production and research base. Annual output of 300,000 tons of milk will be put into operation later this year. The goal is to create a smart, efficient, safe, energy-saving, and environmentally friendly dairy production system. This will bring more opportunities for direct cooperation with the Dutch dairy cow breeding equipment and automated milking robot system. He also said that Fengxing would start with dairy cow feeding technology to effectively control and reduce the peculiar smell of cow manure from the source and optimize the pasture environment, significantly reduce the impact on the surrounding environment. To this end, he would like to know more relevant Dutch companies and experts to further communicate with Fengxing and seek better solutions together.

After the visit, the delegation rushed back to the seminar site in Guangzhou. The Sino-Dutch Dairy Seminar started on time. The chief veterinarian of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Qu Yuanquan, and the representatives of the Dairy Association attended the seminar. Mr. Qu delivered a speech after the video speech of the Agricultural Counsellor Karel van Bommel to express the warm welcome to the NL dairy delegation for visiting Guangzhou, and hope this seminar will be the starting point of future cooperation. About 80 representatives from Guangdong dairy companies, Fengxing, Yantang, and Xiangmanlou, and dairy associations and companies in other regions attended the seminar. Experts of the 3 Dutch companies came to the stage and presented their products and technical advantages in detail, also shared their projects and experiences in various regions of China. Afterward, Mr. Huang of Fengxing Dairy and representatives of two other Chinese companies also took the stage. They shared their development strategies, long-term plans, and the forecast for the future development of China's dairy industry to Dutch experts and other audiences. In the end, experts from China and NL sat back on the stage to have free discussions on dairy cow breeding technology, smart ranch management, and manure treatment, etc. The audience also actively interacted with the experts and showed strong interest in the products from the 3 Dutch companies.

This event has received tremendous support from the Guangdong Department of Agriculture and the Dairy Association. The total arrangement of the visit to Fengxing and inviting Chinese professional guests to attend our seminar. The NL delegation also gave positive feedbacks for this mission to Guangzhou and felt the huge market potentials in South China. They hoped us to organize more such sort of activities. The state-owned dairy companies in South China, especially Guangzhou, have a long history, solid local market shares, and scientific development strategies. In the future, there will be infinite rooms and opportunities to join forces with Dutch companies in dairy farming, digital control, and ranch management, dairy processing, and sustainable development. We hope to have more Dutch companies participate in our future events in South China and present to local partners that the Netherlands is the world's leading country in all aspects of the dairy industry.