World Agrochemical Network Chinese Network report: As the saying goes, "cows eat grass, squeeze out milk", if you want to raise good cattle and produce good milk, you must plant good grass and eat good grass. Under the requirements of the concept of establishing a "big food view", planting forage is growing food, which can reduce the consumption of concentrated feed for cattle and sheep breeding. The data shows that 1 mu of high-quality and high-yield alfalfa provides protein, which is equivalent to 2 mu of soybeans. Therefore, the development of the forage industry is of great significance to ensure food security and improve people's nutritional level.
Recently, the 6th China Pratacultural Conference was held in Arukorqin Banner (hereinafter referred to as "Aqi") in Inner Mongolia. During the period, more than 600 guests visited the modern agricultural and animal husbandry science and technology demonstration park of MAP (Modern Agricultural Technology Service Platform) in Aqi, and witnessed the completion of the second phase grass bank of the demonstration park. With a length of 225.4 meters, a width of 120.4 meters, and a construction area of 27,000 square meters, the grass warehouse is expected to trade more than 100,000 tons of high-quality forage every year.
The second phase of MAP Modern Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Science and Technology Demonstration Park covers an area of 76 acres, equipped with advanced loading and unloading equipment and warehouse management system in the industry. After the completion of the project, it will promote the integrated operation of the whole industrial chain of "planting, harvesting, processing, storage and sales" of local forage, open up the blocking points of the industrial chain, realize the coordinated development of agricultural products and agricultural services, and promote the high-quality development of agricultural and animal husbandry industry in Aqi.
Aqi is located on the western edge of the Horqin Sandy Land, with a total area of 14,000 square kilometers, of which 14.47 million mu of natural grassland, accounting for 67.6% of the total land area. Since 2001, Aqi has implemented a closed grazing ban on grazing, covering an area of 5.895 million mu and seasonal grazing pastures of 11.83 million mu, which also makes the supply of livestock forage tight.
In order to solve this problem, in May 2008, the first water-saving alfalfa project in Aqi was successfully planted, which began the process of large-scale development of artificial grassland. Since 2011, the local area has successively introduced well-known domestic grass companies. By 2013, Ah Qi was awarded the title of "China's Grass Capital". In 2017, Aqi was identified as the "National Alfalfa Planting Standardization Demonstration Area".
In 2019, the MAP Technical Service Center landed in Aqi, opening a new chapter in modern agricultural and animal husbandry services. The center is committed to using advanced agricultural science and technology and services to provide local farmers and herdsmen with modern agricultural comprehensive solutions that combine online and offline and cover the whole process of agricultural production.
AQI MAP Technical Service Center
MAP agronomists work with growers to see alfalfa growth
In the past five years since its inception, MAP has provided partners with comprehensive services such as seed screening, full crop nutrition, full plant protection, soil improvement, mechanical operations, smart agriculture, irrigation services, etc., helping to enhance the overall competitiveness and sustainable development of Ah Qi grass industry. Up to now, Aqi MAP Technical Service Center has initially formed a forage advantageous industrial cluster. It is precisely because of the successful case of AQI MAP Technical Service Center that MAP won the honor of "The Second Global Poverty Reduction Case" and other honors.
In 2021, the planting area of Aqi forage grass reached 700,000 mu, and the annual output of forage hay was 650,000 tons, making it the main commercial grass producing area in the mainland. Although the output of Aqi forage has formed a scale, it is often difficult to sell forage at a good price due to the inability to carry out grading and sorting after harvest, the lack of authoritative quality appraisal and standardized storage, and the low price of local grass vendors.
Forage harvesting is highly time-sensitive and must be completed in the shortest possible time during the harvest season to reduce forage nutrient loss. On the other hand, after harvesting and storing, the pasture is naturally stacked in the open air, which can easily lead to mildew and yellowing of the pasture, which not only loses its nutritional value, but even causes harm to livestock. The shortcomings of storage means and standardized production limit the development and upgrading of the Aqi forage industry. In addition, due to the extreme instability of forage imports and import prices in recent years, it is particularly important to achieve a stable domestic supply of forage as soon as possible.
Open storage of forage after harvesting can easily lead to mildew and yellowing of forage
Based on the deep understanding of the pain points of the development of Aqi grass industry, MAP relies on local resource endowments to build forage production warehouses (i.e. grass warehouses) in MAP demonstration parks, build a forage storage center integrating forage order acquisition, storage and sales, promote the integrated operation of the whole industry chain of "planting, harvesting, processing, storage and sales" of forage, link the upstream and downstream of forage, and create a forage industry ecosystem.
People from all walks of life in the grassland industry visited the MAP Science and Technology Service Demonstration Park
Relying on the production warehouse, MAP can organize large-scale forage harvesting teams in an orderly manner, provide forage harvesting operations for the farm at the first time, and produce more high-quality hay. MAP also provides forage quality testing services, which allow freshly harvested forage to be sorted and loaded into trucks on the ground, transported to the park production warehouse, and stored according to quality to complete forage screening. This set of processes greatly saves the customer's backhaul cost and warehouse management cost when harvesting forage, and also solves the problem of pasture storage for farmers without warehouse.
More importantly, a large amount of high-quality forage stored in the MAP grass bank can be directly supplied to the surrounding large-scale pastures, so that good grass can be sold at a good price and farmers can get good income.
With the completion of the project, MAP Modern Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Science and Technology Demonstration Park is expected to achieve an annual transaction of more than 100,000 tons of high-quality forage through online and offline transactions, helping to promote the transformation and upgrading of Aqi's forage industry, enhancing the competitiveness of Aqi's high-quality forage market, driving growers to increase production and income, and promoting rural revitalization.
In the future, Syngenta Group China will continue to build more MAP modern agricultural and animal husbandry technology service demonstration parks across the country, and build a co-creation and sharing platform for the agricultural and animal husbandry value chain. Let farmers increase income, industry efficiency, and consumers enjoy better agricultural and animal husbandry products.