German-Sino Crop Production and Agrotechnology Demonstration Park (DCALDP) Project Press Conference

The first Project Press Conference of German-Sino Crop Production and Agrotechnology Demonstration Park (DCALDP) took place on the afternoon of April 13th 2017 in Nanjing.

DCALDP Team leader Mr. Thomas Illies and General Manager of Huanghai Farm Mr. Wang Yiqin presented the experiences and achievements of the project since its beginning in September 2015 from the perspectives of China and Germany and analyzed the difficulties and challenges in the project process.

The crops were planted with German technology and expertise on a 166-hectare demonstration area provided by the Huanghai Farm in northern Jiangsu Province. As Mr. Thomas Illies reported, the main crops rice, wheat, barley and potatoes were planted in the new crop rotation mode with rape, corn, peas and broccoli.

With the total 12 business partners, 9 agricultural machinery companies and 3 plant protection products manufacturers, the project aims at supporting the development of sustainable agriculture in China by means of training and demonstrations in the area of modern, sustainable plant production. Although the German business partners are facing some challenges, they have also gained big benefits.

By means of modern agricultural machinery, adapted cultivation methods, training and demonstrations in the field., the project has achieved good initial results of soil test analysis, soil improvement, agricultural output rate comparison test, training of young agricultural machine drivers and technicians, said Mr. Wang Yiqin. Besides, the demo park organized the first and the second "Field Day" in the year of 2016, showing the growth of spring/autumn crops in the park, the advanced agricultural machinery, high-quality plant protection products provided by business partners, and the agronomic achievements of both countries, which had provided an international platform for exchange and promoted development of the park.

China's agricultural modernization and German’s agriculture have many complementary advantages and cooperation opportunities, including farming methods, production structure and agricultural productivity etc. In view of this, in 2008 German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and Ministry of Agriculture of China jointly launched the "modern agriculture demonstration farm" project, to improve farming efficiency, to increase agricultural production profits, and to promote the sustainable development of China's agriculture and Sino-German cooperation, which is implemented by the German Agricultural Society (DLG) and other partners.

The DCALDP Project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Ministry of Agriculture of China in Sep 2015 in Yancheng city of Jiangsu Province.

As a representative from the project implementation side, Mr. Peter Grothues, Managing Director of DLGF Service attended the conference and gave a welcome speech. He said, China is facing the fast development of modernization in rural area, and in adaptation of advanced agricultural technology with its growing number of big farms or farm cooperatives. Germany and China have great opportunities for the bilateral cooperation on sustainable agricultural development. Jiangsu Yancheng Demonstration Park is already the second Sino – German Agricultural Demonstration Park after the first Demo Farm in northern China, Daxing Anling (2008 – 2014), which had achieved great success and impact on the local farming and economic development. The Second Demo Park in South China Jiangsu is to further explore the Sino – German agricultural cooperation in different climate condition, and to further enhance the both countries expertise exchange and technology transfer.

Around 100 high-level experts from business, politics and media attended this press conference.