The Nestlé Dairy Farming Institute (DFI) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Northeast Agricultural University (NEAU) in Harbin on April 30, Harbin Daily reported.

According to the agreement, the two parties will jointly establish a dairy research center affiliated with the Ruminant Research Institute. They will also work together to cultivate skilled workers, improve courses, and carry out scientific cooperation and industrial exchanges over the next three years.

To cultivate skilled workers, the two parties plan to design a modern farm management training system.

This semester, a total of 150 junior university students from the College of Animal Science and Technology of NEAU will attend the “Cultivate Cattle” course. Throughout the course, students will visit DFI and make use of its advanced teaching facilities and equipment for short-term pasture management practice.

NEAU plans to design new courses by combining DFI’s teaching methods with the needs of the dairy research center and training requirements for students. It will encourage practical experience in breeding, disease prevention, feeding management, and ensuring milk quality and safety. Experts will give lectures and offer on-site guidance.

NEAU will also take advantage of its abundance of experts and its strength in scientific research and research facilities to improve pasture management efficiency, roughage nutrition, the utilization of cow feed, the health of dairy cows, and sustainable agricultural development.

The dairy research center will focus on problems encountered in the development of the animal husbandry industrial chain, regularly arranging for domestic and foreign enterprises and academic research experts to conduct special seminars and carry out academic exchanges, discuss the industrial development trajectory, solve problems with production technology, and promote the industrialization of the industry.

The Nestlé Dairy Farming Institute and Northeast Agricultural University signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Harbin on April 30. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Li Zhicheng, vice president of Northeast Agricultural University, delivers a speech at the signing ceremony for an agreement between the Nestlé Dairy Farming Institute and Northeast Agricultural University to establish a dairy research center in Harbin on April 30. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Fang Siwang, vice president of technology at Nestlé Greater China, delivers a speech at the signing ceremony in Harbin on April 30. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Representatives of the Nestlé Dairy Farming Institute and Northeast Agricultural University pose for a group photo at the signing ceremony in Harbin on April 30. [Photo provided to China Daily]