Eric's Insight: Yili leads dairy innovation, green development in Yunnan
A sort of traditional site of cattle raising
How much effort, you may wonder, does it take to raise cows and produce milk? Isn’t it simply a combination of shepherds, cattle, rustic paths, mills and farmers in the traditional point of view?
Actually, it’s not so simple as imagined. Innovation and high-quality development of the dairy industry have been going on for a while in Yunnan province, especially since latter half of 2023 when the idea of “new quality productive forces" began to emerge as a buzz word among industrial insiders across China.
The new quality productive forces are closely related to innovation and industrial upgrade. During the just-concluded 2024 Two Sessions, the government work noted that China should give full rein to the leading role of innovation and press ahead with new industrialization, so as to raise total factor productivity.
A truck carrying fresh milk leaves the Yili dairy factory in central Yunnan’s Songming county.
The Inner Mongolia-based Yili Dairy Group is the largest dairy group in China, and it has been present in Yunnan for a decade. The Yunnan branch of Yili Group has a dairy factory in central Yunnan’s Songming county and a green pasture in central Yunnan’s Xundian county.
Both are filled with elements for innovation and high-quality development, where the total factor productivity is raised either by upgrading human labour, means of labour and objects of labour, or by optimizing the combination of the three components.
The Yili factory also impressed visitors with its variety of dairy products that aim to meet the needs of different consumer groups. For instance, Shuhua milk is suitable for those with lactose intolerance, while fluid milk is good for people allergic to animal proteins.
The Yili dairy factory in central Yunnan’s Songming county
Behind the subdivision of dairy products is Yili’s motto of "no future without innovation". Yili never turns down new possibilities, because they believe that innovation is always on the way. In the factory, workers are almost out of sight. Behind the quiet production lines is the industrial empowerment via digitalization and AI, which jointly bring us a brand new scene of smart production.
To be friendly to the environment, trash cans in the factory are made of milk cartons and beverage boxes. The staff said that each environmentally-friendly trash can here is made out of more than 1,000 used milk cartons. To reduce emissions, the boilers are heated by natural gas, the heating pumps provide thermal energy, and automation reduces energy consumption.
In the Xundian pasture, cows are "envied" for their life of security. With the industrial internet readily available at the pasture, the cows always enjoy an all-round physical checkup before they are milked. The Yili dairy products on our dinner table result from the integration of food science, clinical medicine, and cutting-edge technologies. The stereotypical images of “shepherds, cattle and rural paths” in traditional agriculture are being re-defined by trends of innovation and green development.
Cows rest at the Yili pasture in central Yunnan’s Xundian county.
Cows are among the top emitters of methane. To maximize the milk production of 1,600 cows on the pasture while minimizing the methane emission from cows' intestines, the Xuandian dairy farm has their own low-carbon forage developed from the protected nutrient technology, or rumen bypass technology. The feeding formula includes alfalfa, silage, concentrated feed, Leymus chinensis, imported oats, salt and some trace elements, all genes for low carbon production.
The Yili factory and pasture in Yunnan have repeatedly surprised the public with their innovation and integration in industrial chains. In 2021, the Songming factory obtained China’s first green card in power consumption for the dairy/food industry, and in 2022, it became China’s first food factory with zero CO2 emission, contributing to provincial beauty and ecology.
While making new heights in dairy products, Yili’s Yunnan branch also seeks high-quality development in planting, logistics, packaging and printing. “I hope dairy technicians in China’s Yunnan could communicate more with their peers in Myanmar, so that innovations in Yunnan will also benefit its neighboring countries,” said Dr. Htike Lwin Ko, a Myanmar native.
Cows eat at the Yili pasture in central Yunnan’s Xundian county.
Writing by Han Chengyuan and Huang Yixian (Yunnan Daily); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue; Proofreading by Zu Hongbing and Wang Huan