The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Nov 15 officially released the "Case Studies on Digital Agriculture and Sustainable Transformation of Food Systems."

The "Technology Empowering Smart Grassland" case study of Youran Dairy Co's grassland base at the Ar Horqin Banner in Chifeng, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was chosen as the sole representative case in China's grassland industry.

The Ar Horqin Banner grassland base utilizes the "Smart Grass Cloud" intelligent management system, internet agricultural terminals, smart irrigation systems, and other digital system equipment to continuously enhance field operation efficiency and achieve precise and efficient management at every stage of the forage grass planting process.

Meanwhile, the base has established a "combined planting and breeding" development model and a triple-supply "alfalfa grass + feed oats + silage corn" model, providing solid support for the sustainable development of Inner Mongolia's animal husbandry.

The base can currently produce approximately 90,000 metric tons of premium alfalfa hay annually, catering to the feed requirements of 10 large-scale ranches.

As China's largest alfalfa supplier, Youran Dairy operates 15 grassland bases nationwide with a total grass planting area of 200,000 mu (13,333.33 hectares), including a premium alfalfa plantation spanning 55,000 mu at Ar Horqin Banner.

For years, Youran Dairy has focused on breeding and planting high-yield, high-quality, and high-conversion rate forage grasses.

It developed the "Smart Grass Cloud" for the intelligent management of grasslands, utilized on-site micro-weather stations for real-time weather monitoring with accurate 48-hour rainfall forecasts, and employed drones for pest control and smart irrigation systems, thereby achieving precise management throughout the entire growth cycle of the forage grass.

In the first half of this year, nearly 60 percent of the self-produced alfalfa at Youran Dairy's grassland production base received a quality rating of premium or above.