“Sustainable Dairy Chain: from grass to glass – Examples from the Netherlands”
“Smart Dairy Farm, Save cost, Becoming Carbon Neutral”
On 17 July, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China organized the well-attended seminar on “Sustainable Dairy Chain: from grass to glass – Examples from the Netherlands” together with the Sino-Dutch Dairy Development Centre and the Dairy Association of China. The seminar was also supported by the Dairy Association of Anhui. More than 80 representatives from enterprises, universities and local authorities attended the seminar.
In the 14th Five year plan, China expressed for the first time their ambitions for the dairy sector, both becoming more self-sufficient by optimizing the industrial structure and facilitate the development of pasteurized milk, fermented milk, cheese and other high-additional-value products, and reaching Carbon Neutrality in 2050. In the seminar, experts and researchers from China and leading enterprises of the Netherlands shared their views on how to make the dairy industry more sustainable, especially on how to reduce greenhouse gas emission from the dairy industry to in the future.
Prof. Shengli LI, the Chief Scientist in National Dairy Industry Technology System, presented on the green and sustainable development of china dairy sector in the post-pandemic era. He introduced that “only half of the dairy farms are applying the planting and feeding model in China”. To increase the sustainability of the dairy industry in China, it is encouraged for dairy farms to plant more alfalfa silage and using manure from dairy farms as the nutrients. China is also facing challenges on decreasing of labors in rural area, low self-sufficient rate on dairy products, high negative environmental impacts, and the lack of dairy cattle. Therefore, automation, ICT, precision farming and improving local breeding of dairy cattle are the key improvements in the future Chinese dairy farms. Prof. Li suggested a fully intelligent dairy farm for future Chinese dairy industry.
Carbon neutrality
Prof. Wei WANG from China Agricultural University introduced the relation between carbon neutrality and Chinese dairy farming. In the presentation, Prof. WANG called on the efforts from the Chinese Dairy Industry to pay more attention to the Carbon Neutrality: “Increasing your profit and protecting the environment”.
Six Dutch enterprises shared their experiences, views and strategies on a sustainable dairy chain. Mr. Hanbin QIAO from Friesland Campina China introduce the concept of “Nourishing a better planet”. Ms. Lei LIU from CRV explained how and why to “Breed efficient cows for sustainable dairy chain”. Dr. Henk VALK from KNZ presented how to close the nutrient cycle by improved nutrition. Ms. Zhe QU from Nutreco introduced that “Improving lifetime daily yield can make dairy farming more sustainable.” Mr. Andre HU from Nedap shared their findings on “how fertility management and monitoring will lead to healthy pregnant cows and improve farm profitability.
