December 15, 2009

Advanced Agricultural Technology and Investment Congress: Showcasing modern technology

Attended by international senior executives, top-level Chinese government officials, farm owners, and leading production and technology directors, the Advanced Agricultural Technology and Investment Congress 2009 organised by Noppen in close co-organization with Agricultural Department of Shandong Province took place on December 3-4, 2009 in Qingdao, Shandong, China.

Its focus was the building up of modern agriculture and how to sharpen its competitive edge with high-tech applications to guide traditional agriculture in taking an enormous leap. The event explored present and future projects and tenders as well as innovative ideas and solutions for agricultural development.

The keynote government speakers included Feng Jikang, deputy director general from Shandong Agricultural Department and Wang Maohua, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and honorary president of Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering. Other key speakers included Dr. Cheng Zongjia, director of Feed Technology for ASA-IM who spoke on the most up-to-date feed processing technology and its effects on animal reproduction performance.

Other advances explored at the congress included a showcase by Mr. Andries Jan Oosterhof, sales area manager (Asia) of Nedap Agri on their new RFID solutions and a presentation about how Alpharma help Chinese farmers increase their output from pig farms by Mike Hsieh, regional marketing manager, Asia-Pacific, Alpharma Animal Health (Beijing) Trading Co., Ltd.

Speakers at the congress came from the seed as well as the husbandry industry. David Liu, general manager of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., Tang Shiwei, vice president of Science and Technology Institute from Denghai Seed Group and Shao Changyong, general manager of Shandong Province Seeds Group Co., Ltd represented the top companies in the seed industry.

Their technological developments stand for the developments of the entire seed industry. In the husbandry industry speakers included Zhao Jingquan, general manager of Food Division from Liu He Group and the previously mentioned Dr. Cheng Zongjia from ASA-IM. Liu He Group is the biggest husbandry group in Shandong and one of the biggest in China. Mr. Zhao gave a detailed introduction of how Liu He is promoting the interests of all partners on their value chain.

The event was held in Shandong as it ranks first in China in agricultural exports. It has rich labour resources with advanced agricultural planting and processing. The core of the central government's policy is to provide incentives toward agriculture, enable scientific and technological transformation, increase investment, improve industry structure and encourage innovation with the ultimate goal of ensuring national food security and abundant supply of major agriculture products.