Yili showcases China’s whole-value-chain dairy symbiosis model

CHINA – Yili Group has presented a China-based model for whole-value-chain symbiosis at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) inaugural Global Conference for Actions on One Health in Agrifood Systems.

Speaking at the RENOFARM in Action session, Yili Group Vice President XU Ke outlined three stories showing how healthy ecosystems, precision farming and shared growth can reinforce one another across the dairy value chain.

In Ar Horqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, China, land degradation once posed a persistent challenge for local herders. XU Ke said Yili developed a grass-livestock integration approach aligned with local conditions and natural processes.

Planting protein-rich, deep-rooted alfalfa helped stabilize soil and restore 55,000 mu, or about 3,667 hectares, of degraded grassland.

The renewed landscape now supports ecosystem recovery while supplying high-quality forage, creating a cycle in which grass restores the land, the land sustains cattle and dairy farming contributes back to the ecosystem.

In dairy farming, improving animal welfare through science-based management remains a key industry priority.

The team at Yili’s Chilechuan Ecological Smart Farm has upgraded its whole-life-cycle cow health and welfare farming technologies.

Automated temperature control, IoT-enabled health monitoring and precision nutrition tailored to each growth stage help safeguard the quality of raw milk.

Yili has received FAO’s Contribution Award for Social Responsibility on multiple occasions for its animal welfare and precision farming practices. In 2026, FAO named Chilechuan Ecological Smart Farm a RENOFARM Farm 5Gs Pilot Champion.

Herders in several Chinese provinces once faced challenges including low milk yields, limited technical capacity and weak returns.

In 2014, Yili and FAO established Dairy Farmer Field Schools, bringing regular, hands-on training directly to farms.

Yili specialists help herders identify cow-health risks, optimize feed rations and develop tailored farm-upgrade plans, backed by funding and technical support.

Over more than a decade, Yili has helped 5,600,000 herders in Inner Mongolia increase their incomes, while the scale of dairy farming expanded more than tenfold and daily milk output doubled.

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