Green models power up specialty farms

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Electric power workers inspect oxygen supply equipment in a crab pond in Huai’an, Jiangsu province, in November (ZHAO QIRUI / FOR CHINA DAILY)

An eco-friendly dairy farm has become a hot spot for social media enthusiasts, attracting many visitors and influencers and boosting sales through livestreaming promotions.

“Our green farm had more than 20,000 visitors during the Spring Festival holiday due to increased followers on social media platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou,” said Liu Jianwei, deputy general manager of Shengsheng Dairy.

Through a green cycle model involving the use of manure for fertilisation and grass planting for livestock feed, the company has tackled issues of pollution related to cow dung and straw burning. From its straw utilisation alone the farm generates nearly 6 million yuan (£664,500) in revenue a year, he said.

The company, in the town of Pingle, Luoyang, Henan province, boasts daily processing capacity of up to 350 metric tonnes of dairy products.

“Our operations, from lighting and sanitation to grass cutting, feeding, milking and refrigeration, as well as the green circular development model, all rely on electricity, which makes ample and stable power supplies so critical,” Liu said.

Because heat stress can greatly disrupt or disturb the thermal equilibrium in cows’ bodies, leading to a significant drop in milk production and increased susceptibility to diseases, prolonged hot weather last summer was particularly problematic for dairy production, he said.

Now, thanks to the fully electrified and automated production processes, Shengsheng Dairy has managed to mitigate such problems. The farm has installed 130 high-power fans in the holding area to keep the livestock comfortable, thus securing stable and safe production.

“Our capacity is double that of traditional feeding methods, ensuring both production efficiency and the freshness of milk products,” Liu said.

The dairy company relies on four transformers totalling 2,190 kilovolt-amperes, which are strategically distributed across the breeding and milking areas.

Similarly, at a vegetable cultivation base in the village of Heshangyang in Changge, Henan, growers have enjoyed bountiful harvests due to stable power supplies.

Heshangyang’s soil is highly conducive to cultivating cash crops. Rotating between onions, carrots and potatoes, the village took the lead at the end of 2020, guiding farmers to develop more than 540 acres of land for growing carrots, with annual exports of more than 30,000 tonnes.

With reliable power supplies and high-quality services from local power suppliers, the collective income of the village has risen by about 300,000 yuan (£33,400) a year. The specialty crops have also benefited neighbouring villagers, creating jobs for more than 2,000 people in nearby villages, said Yang Jingtao, an official of the Heshangyang village.

Yang Tongqi, a farmer in the village, said: “Thanks to reliable electricity supply, our irrigation needs were never disrupted last year. It was another year of bountiful harvests, with yields exceeding 8,000 kilogrammes (17,640lb) a mu (0.16 acre).”

Wang Weizhi, owner of 12 high-end greenhouses in Shanzhaolijia village in Yantai, Shandong province, said cherry growing has led to a significant increase in local farmers’ incomes. This year Wang said he has harvested large cherries with a diameter of more than 1.2 inches and sold them for a high price of 200 yuan (£22) a pound.

Asked about how he has achieved this, Wang said the farmers use advanced technologies to strictly control temperatures, humidity and light intensity in the greenhouses.

“We provide the cherry trees with the most favourable growing environment. We keep the temperature difference at a golden 13 C to make the cherries sweeter. The sugar content of our products is generally about 24 to 25 per cent, with a maximum of up to 29 per cent.”

The greenhouses can be divided into “cold greenhouses” and “warm greenhouses” based on their locations and the natural lighting received. Cherries grown in the warm greenhouses were to be available for sale early this month, and the ripening time of the cold greenhouse cherries can be adjusted in line with market demand.