From Large to Powerful: International Comparison, Challenges and Strategic Choices for China’s Livestock Industry

Improving the operating income of farmers and herdsmen is an important starting point for achieving common prosperity. As a common form of learning and an important source of skills training, informal learning has a certain impact on the economy and income level of farmers and herdsmen. This paper takes 439 herdsmen in three cities of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the research object and tries to explore the comprehensive influence, subdivision difference, and mechanism of informal learning on the operating income of herdsmen on the theoretical and empirical levels. The results show that the impact of informal learning on the operating income of herdsmen is “inverted U-shaped”, and there is an informal learning balance point of 2.9776 h, which maximizes the effect of informal learning on the increased operating income of herdsmen. After using the instrumental variable method to deal with endogeneity and conducting robustness tests through winsorizing, quantile regression, and substitution variables, the research conclusions were still valid. Heterogeneity analysis found that informal learning has a significant impact on the increase in operating income of herdsmen in the low human capital group, reflecting the role of “sending charcoal in the snow”. However, it has no significant effect on the increase in operating income of herdsmen in the high human capital group, and the effect of “icing on the cake” is not obvious. In view of this result, government departments should speed up the planning of Internet infrastructure construction in pastoral areas, and accurately push the knowledge and skills needs of herdsmen to help increase the operating income of herdsmen.

The Impact of Informal Learning on Herders’ Operating Income: An Analysis Based on Human Capital Differences

Cai,

Gao,

Zhou

et al. 2023

Distribution Characteristics and Factors Influencing Culturable Bacterial Bioaerosols on a Dairy Farm in Northern China

Ru,

Ding,

Deng

et al. 2023

Studying the distribution characteristics of bioaerosols and their interaction with the environment is crucial for dairy farms. The distribution of aerosols differs in dairy farming from farming of other livestock, and their sensitivity to environmental factors varies across sites. Field experiments were conducted in an intensive commercial dairy farm in Northern China to investigate the horizontal and vertical distribution of culturable bacterial bioaerosols. Concentration levels and particle size ranges were analyzed, and the impact of multiple environmental factors on culturable bacterial bioaerosols was assessed. Significant variations in culturable bacterial bioaerosol concentrations were observed across eight functional zones, ranging from 1.14 × 103 to 7.35 × 103 CFU/m3. Culturable bacterial bioaerosols exhibited consistent carrier distribution patterns across six different size ranges. Vertical analysis revealed significantly higher culturable bacterial bioaerosol concentrations at a 1 m height compared to 4 m (p < 0.05), while similar size distributions were observed at different heights of the same sampling location. The top three environmental factors influencing culturable bacterial bioaerosol concentrations were PM100 concentration, wind direction, and air temperature. This study provides insights into the distribution characteristics of culturable bacterial bioaerosols on dairy farms and their response to environmental factors. The findings serve as a reference for evaluating bioaerosol emissions and establishing daily disinfection management measures on dairy farms.

Assessment of the Lithuanian Pig Farming Sector via Prospective Farm Size

Galnaitytė,

Kriščiukaitienė,

Namiotko

et al. 2023

Scientists, politicians, and practitioners are debating the current structure of pig farms in Lithuania, as medium and small farms have almost disappeared over the past decade. The debated problem is whether the revitalization of medium and small pig farms would sustainably contribute to self-sufficiency in pork production. Therefore, this research aims to determine which farms in terms of size could offer the best prospect for Lithuania. In order to achieve this aim, the multicriteria evaluation method TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) was used. The production and economic indicators of the Lithuanian pig farming sector in Lithuania and in the context of the selected EU countries of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Latvia, Netherlands, Austria, and Poland were analyzed. The main research period was 2004–2022. The multicriteria evaluation led to the conclusion that Danish pig farms were the best-managed. Large industrial farms were found to dominate in that country. Large pig farms (approximately two thousand sows) appeared as the best prospect in Lithuania: they took first place in the years examined (2016–2021). The criterion estimate of their assessed indicators was much higher than that of the medium (100 sows) and small (20 sows) farms. The main reasons are significantly higher labor productivity, lower cost, lower price, and better production indicators. Large pig farms generate relatively higher incomes and can meet the increasing environmental requirements and devote a larger part of the income to wages. Further research should consider the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy, which are of great importance to farms and policymakers.