FDBusiness.com

Nestlé has inaugurated the Dairy Farming Institute in Northeast China, in one of the company’s biggest dairy investments that will help modernize Chinese dairy farming practices to enable farmers to meet the country’s fast-growing milk demand in a sustainable manner in the years ahead. The institute, located in Shuangcheng in Heilongjiang Province, is part of Nestlé’s long-running efforts to share its technical knowhow and to modernise dairy farming around the world through training, responsible practices and partnering with stakeholders, including governments and universities.

“We have a history of developing milk districts and the Nestlé Dairy Farming Institute is an extension of this,” says John Cheung, Nestlé China Chairman and Chief Executive.

The institute reflects Nestlé’s belief that for a company to be successful over the long term and create value for shareholders, it must create value for society.

With dairy operations in China for over 25 years, Nestlé has already established three milk districts in China, in Shuangcheng, Laixi in Qingdao and Hulunbeier in Inner Mongolia.

Nestlé is investing around SFr30 million (Eur25 million) in the Dairy Farming Institute.

China is one of the fastest growing markets for milk products globally and the market could almost double in volume by 2020 from current levels.

“Milk is becoming a vital part of the Chinese diet, so the institute represents our commitment to helping China move its dairy sector to the next stage of development in a sustainable and efficient manner,” says Hans Joehr, Nestlé’s Head of Agriculture.

The principles and practices for Sustainable Dairy farming, within the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI), will serve as a basis for the institute’s teaching curriculum and training activities; in addition to the expertise of Nestlé and its partners.

The SAI principles and practices are aimed at responsible production of safe, quality-assured dairy products. They cover a wide range of dairy management disciplines, including animal health and welfare, milking hygiene, animal nutrition, environmental protection, and socio-economic management.

The institute will include classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, and three different sized training farms to facilitate the training courses. The institute expects to train around 700 students annually through 17 different course offerings.

The Dairy Farming Institute’s business partners are Alltech, Alta Genetics, Avery, Boehringer Ingelheim, East Rock, Elanco, Foester Technik, GEA, Goke•Storty, IFCN, Land O’Lakes, SCR, Zoetis, as well as our academic partners at the University of Wisconsin Madison and Northeast Agricultural University in Heilongjiang Province. Other partners are likely to join in the future.