China agri leaders gather at Alltech event in Beijing

Alltech REBELation, an international conference that celebrated entrepreneurship, business and marketing, and the roles of science and technology in agriculture, was held last May in Lexington, Kentucky. Alltech China shared highlights of the event with Chinese industry leaders, allowing them to explore and discuss the global concepts on a local level.

Internet in agriculture

Four industry leaders took to the stage to discuss opportunities and challenges in Chinese food production. Tao Yishan, chairman of Tangrenshen; Wang Lianzen, Huayu CEO; Cai Huiyi, CAAS researcher; and Fu Wenge, China Agriculture University professor, talked about change in the industry and the importance of conducting business with a high level of integrity. The growing importance of the internet in agriculture was of particular interest and the panel agreed that as more and more agricultural companies develop new technologies, the internet will be an integral part of business in the future. They concluded that this should help to improve the flow of information in agriculture and thus help to improve overall efficiency.

Using innovation is key

Patrick Yu, president of COFCO, China’s largest food processing manufacturer and trader, opened the meeting with a discussion on the outlook of the food and feed industry in China.  He stressed that the industry must upgrade animal protein consumption and that there is plenty of room for further development of China’s food and feed industry. “Moderate scale management is the main way to improve the cost competitiveness of agricultural products in China,” he said. Yu shared three key challenges that food and feed companies must resolve: cost, food safety and sustainable development.  He emphasized the importance of using innovation to overcome these challenges. “Companies who lead the innovation of manufacturing and technology will become the future leaders of the food and feed industry,” he said.

Advice from big data analysis

Dr Mark Lyons, Alltech vice president and general manager of Alltech China, highlighted the tremendous opportunities in China. “As 400 million people have been lifted out of poverty, the transformation of economic growth and industry structure upgrades bring tremendous potential to the market,” he said. He emphasized that technology cooperation and speed are key to development in China. “Big data analysis can provide the agricultural industry with valuable strategic advice,” said Lyons. “Speed in decision making can be a key factor to success, allowing companies to seize opportunities as they arise,” he added.
Lyons stressed the importance of cooperation, highlighting Alltech’s collaboration with Nestlé at the Dairy Farming Institute in Shuangcheng in Heilongjiang province. A major investment for both companies, the Institute, launched in October 2014, is helping modernize Chinese dairy farming practices so farmers can meet the population’s burgeoning milk demand.

Growth is lacking

Rob Koepp, director of the Economist Corporate Network, shared an analysis of China’s economy. He said that while the US is still the world’s largest economy, China is the second largest, generating $901 billion in GDP. While India is seventh in size, it is now growing faster than China. Koepp stressed that growth in agriculture in China is lagging in terms of GDP output and highlighted key areas for improvement, including improving productivity efficiencies, marketing healthy, natural products and investing in automation and online marketing.

Next year’s international conference, ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, will be held in Lexington, Kentucky, May 22-25, 2016. Registration for the event is open now at one.alltech.com.