Going Hog Wild over DDGS

We began our day by visiting the Guangzhou Lizhi Agricultural Industry, a U.S. Grains Council partner swine farm. It was interesting to see and learn how the swine industry differs in China from the U.S. In the United States many producers specialize in a certain part of the growth process, whereas in China they are more geared toward farrow to finish. Chinese swine production is expanding due to government support programs even though they are currently losing money in the industry with supply issues and low prices. We found it very interesting to find out that even though China is the leading pork producer in the world, 50 percent of the pigs produced are by small, backyard farms (less than 50 head). The U.S. Grains Council has partnered with this farm in several key areas. Council programs have led to technological improvement, management development and increased knowledge about high quality feed ingredients. These improvements are helping Lizhi to reach their goal of 200,000 pigs produced per year.

In the afternoon we visited the Guangdong Haid Group Co., Ltd. This is a feed grains company with 20 subsidiary companies. They are currently one of the larger importers of U.S. DDGS and have attended the Council’s DDGS workshops, conferences and have participated in team visits to the United States. We met with them at their headquarters in Guangzhou and then traveled to one of their feed mills and research development sites. In the future the Haid Group, with the help of the Council, hopes to be the largest feed company in China.

Tomorrow we board a train in the morning to travel to Hong Kong where we will wrap up our journey to Asia.

Scott Henry - Iowa State University
Amber Phillips - University of Wyoming