The Concerns Behind The Boom Of China's Milk Industry

   China's milk industry is still largely rely on thehusbandry. Some government officials believe that
prosperity of the domestic society's awarenessover-stocking of the grass damage is caused by
of health and nutrition, while the dairy industry inswept northern China, and a threat to Beijing's
order to maintain the pace of development, thesandstorms culprit. However, farmers are hoping
Chinese government has begun through activeto expand their agricultural and pastoral areas, the
efforts to improve the genetic geneticallysuccess of recent years has given them enough
engineered cows throughout the country. Theconfidence.
farmers in northern China continues to expand    Many farmers have shaken off the era of
the size of their farms, and the introduction ofhand-milking. Although many farmers still do not
new husbandry techniques. Scholars and expertsknow if the milk they produce what eventually
around the world began flooding the farm here,gone, but they are well aware that the farm's
the training of those farmers. Yili dairy companiesannual income from RMB 300 a decade ago,
in China, large companies have also set up a smallincreased to today's 2,000 yuan.
village milk stations, and in these villages, coal    Moreover, there are still many more
furnace is still their main cooking and heating tools.large-scale farms under construction. In the
These companies also provide loans for thehomes Bie village, visitors can see dozens of dairy
villagers to develop milk production.farms, there are rows of height of about 6-8
    However, China's agricultural experts knew,feet of the farm house is in construction. Dairy
impeding a higher level of China's domestic dairyfarms with the farmers also like tourists to visit
industry is one of the main obstacles to the lowthe village of old cottages homes Bie - an
efficiency of production systems. According toabandoned old house full of mud-brick villages. The
the U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, inold cottage next to the rows of brick has a
the United States, a cow can produce an annualroom, new and comfortable, the house there and
average of about 17.6 thousand pounds of milk,the villagers were proud of the new furniture and
while the level of China's dairy is only 8800 lbs.television sets, home appliances. Villagers say the
Industry experts and even "poor" to describe therising demand for milk market makes such a life
Chinese dairy industry, some of the productionpossible. All this thanks to the great reform of the
conditions. "Some conditions of production areagricultural system.
really still appears to be very primitive and    The new dairy farm completely enveloped
backward," a Dutch company's experts in MarchChina for several decades has changed the old
after the visit to Hohhot, "said some farmerssystem - small farmers, small plots of land,
bring their cows as pigs to raise, give them to eatself-sufficiency, surplus sale of agricultural system.
anything."Now, farmers have adapted to the market
    However, the natural environment insystem. In the past 10 years, although some
northern China is very suitable for "milk zone" washigh-priced crop prices have fallen, but the market
established. The regional climate is cool and flatis a good situation for them. Over the past
terrain, and the population is relatively sparse.through the sale of grains and vegetables and
    However, another major concern from thereceived a meager annual income of 200 yuan,
environmental issues, the issue has begun to dragbut now, each cow so that they can earn 700
on milk industry. Over the years, there has beenyuan a year.
concern over the cattle and sheep rearing in the    In this corner of the world, no one knows
area of the environment had becomewhether China can sustain the boom dairy
unsustainable. The Chinese government has begunindustry over a long time;, but everyone here is
to set up regulations to limit the region's grazingconvinced that in the next few years, the Chinese
behavior, and circle the number of protected areamarket, milk consumption will continue to increase.
in order to curb excessive development of animal