"changing Grain to Feed" boosts the feed industry or changes the supply pattern of raw materials

In the view of people in the industry, from the development cycle of China's animal husbandry and feed industry, the domestic animal husbandry industry has gone through a period of rapid growth and entered a mature period around 2005. However, the domestic feed industry will still be able to enjoy the growth brought about by the scale dividend in the next five years.

In his government work report on 5 March, Premier Li Keqiang pointed out: "it is necessary to speed up the integration of agriculture and animal husbandry, speed up the development of animal husbandry in agricultural areas, and carry out pilot projects to change grain into feed where conditions permit. Change the dual structure of grain and cash crops into the ternary structure of grain, cash crops and feed crops." In order to adapt to the new normal, speed up industrial transformation and upgrading, make every effort to build core competitiveness and enhance the comprehensive production capacity of the industry, animal husbandry in Shandong Province will focus on promoting the pilot work of "changing grain to feed" this year. We will vigorously develop a variety of planting and breeding models, such as "breeding enterprises + big growers", "breeding enterprises + planting cooperatives" and "breeding enterprises + self-owned planting bases", and expand the planting of forage corn and silage corn. Effectively improve the level of straw feed utilization.

It is understood that silage corn is different from ordinary seed corn. Silage corn does not refer to corn varieties, but refers to the storage of fresh corn in a silage cellar (that is, silage) and fermented into feed or industrial raw materials. it is a general term for a kind of corn in view of agricultural production habits.

The emphasis on "changing grain to feed" began with the No. 1 document of the Central Committee in 2015. The document mentioned that "it is necessary to speed up the development of grass and animal husbandry, support the cultivation of forage such as silage corn and alfalfa, carry out pilot projects of grain conversion to feeding and planting and breeding, and promote the coordinated development of the ternary planting structure of grain, cash crops and forage".

Many people in the forage industry cheered that this is a new content put forward by China's agricultural restructuring, and the CPC Central Committee has placed forage as important as grain.

At the beginning of this year, when deploying its work for 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture said that it would encourage grain and bean rotation, grain fertilizer rotation, and grain feeding rotation, and carry out grain feeding pilot projects where conditions permit.

Almost at the same time, Shandong Province announced that it would do a good job in the combination of agriculture and animal husbandry this year and carry out the pilot project of "changing grain to feed." At the same time, Shandong Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau put forward a "plan to promote the development of feed crop industry" for discussion in the industry. In view of this plan, some experts suggest that the scheme should be designed and put forward along the order of "planting-processing-using-returning to the field" food chain, so as to do a good job in the combination of grass and livestock.

Wang Jimin, deputy director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said earlier that the "grain to feed" proposed by the Central Committee's No. 1 document was designed and proposed in accordance with the industrial chain formed by grass and animal husbandry, and it is necessary to do a good job in the combination of planting and breeding.

Feed supply affects the safety of rations. Changing grain to feed, as the name implies, is to change food crops into feed crops.

For a long time, China has adhered to the food security strategy of "basic self-sufficiency of grain and absolute safety of rations". The three staple grain varieties-wheat, corn and rice-are regarded as the lifeline of food security in China.

Why should grain be changed to feed? There is a great demand for sorghum and alfalfa in the domestic market, but the benefit of in-situ transformation of local food crops is not obvious. In addition, our country has to import a lot from abroad. Therefore, the state should promote the conversion of grain to feed. " Analyst Sun Guangmei believes.

Due to the continuous progress of science and technology, corn, as an industrial grain and feed crop, is becoming more and more alternative to wheat, rice and other crops.

Therefore, whether the supply of feed crops is safe or not begins to affect the safety of domestic rations more and more.

The views of the above people mean that the growth of domestic corn consumption is still a rigid growth.

"at present, the diversification of grain demand in China is becoming more and more obvious, not only to be simply satisfied with food rations, but also to increase the consumption of grain in industrial and other aspects." Yu Xinrong, vice minister of agriculture, said.

However, in recent years, the growth of food rations consumption in China is not obvious. Kong Xiangzhi, dean of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, said: "the problem of food security in China essentially does not mean the part that people eat (mainly rice and wheat). There is no problem with this." In recent years, imports of soybeans and corn have increased significantly, but imports of wheat and rice have basically not increased. Therefore, the problem of food security is essentially to solve the problem of feed security under the premise of absolute safety of food rations. " "A lot of grain corn is also used as fodder after harvest, so changing food crops into silage can be directly converted on the spot, and its efficiency should be higher." Relevant industry insiders said.

In the past two years, under the background of the continuous bumper harvest of domestic grain, due to the encouragement of the national policy, the domestic grain planting structure has deviated, and the domestic corn warehouse capacity has become more and more large, which has become a national problem.

Some people in the industry pointed out that the domestic grain warehouse is tight and the financial pressure is great. "to put it bluntly, there is a lot of grain, but no one dares to say so. Grain production should be counted as both a safety account and an economic account. Therefore, the conversion of grain to feed must be carried out. " Farmers in the northeast region surveyed by the author generally said that because it is convenient to grow and the profit is higher than crops such as soybeans, many farmers still choose to continue to grow corn.

It is imperative to change grain to feed. In recent years, with the continuous promotion of urbanization in China, the domestic consumption of pork and poultry eggs has increased significantly, but due to the small difference between urban and rural consumption, the space for consumption growth is limited. However, due to the great difference between urban and rural consumption, the growth rate of domestic poultry consumption such as beef and mutton is further accelerated with the promotion of urbanization.

Relevant data show that the supply of beef and mutton in China is seriously insufficient, which can only ensure the minimum consumption demand of rigid demand groups and Muslims.

The development of cattle and sheep breeding industry is bound to further promote the growth of feed processing industry. The state's promotion of the development of the forage industry can not only meet the demand for such growth, but also reduce the possibility of further expansion of domestic corn stocks.

Sun Guangmei agrees with the above view. She believes that the promotion of grain to feed can partially change the domestic feed raw material supply pattern, but also contribute to the digestion of domestic corn stocks.

Driven by all kinds of costs, the cost of domestic means of production of livestock feed continues to rise.

In the view of people in the industry, alfalfa and forage are roughages, which can save breeding costs while replenishing livestock crude protein, vitamins, calcium, phosphorus and amino acids.

"promoting the conversion of grain to feed is an innovation of the national concept of food security. at the same time, it can also improve the conversion efficiency, avoid the problem of straw burning during grain harvest and reduce pollution." A grain industry observer said.

In Sun Guangmei's view, as the pilot project has just started, whether it will have an impact on the grain market in the later period still needs to be further observed.