Published by ChinaMNC · Zuoyun

Datong County's "Four-Chain" Model: What Foreign Founders Should Know About Green Agriculture Opportunities

A practical look at Datong County's green and organic agricultural development strategy, including its four-chain approach, investment figures, processing capacity, and cold-chain infrastructure — useful context for foreign founders exploring China's agri-food sector.

Datong County's Green Agriculture Push: A Practical Brief for Foreign Founders

For foreign founders evaluating where to set up an agri-food or trading business in China, local government development plans can signal where infrastructure, subsidies and supply capacity are heading. Datong County (大通县) in Qinghai Province has published details of its green and organic agricultural and livestock strategy, built around what it calls a "four-chain" approach covering breeding and farming, processing, sales, and branding. The article below summarizes the facts reported by the county government.

What the "Four-Chain" Approach Means

Datong County has positioned itself as an important carrier zone for green and organic agricultural and livestock output. To support this, it issued a 2026 task list for integrating with and serving Xining's goal of becoming a central city for green and organic agricultural and livestock output. The task list identifies priority industries, notably Datong yak and cool-climate vegetables.

In the first half of the year, the county reported output of 21,000 tonnes of green and organic agricultural and livestock products, with an output value of RMB 220 million.

Yak and Livestock: Strengthening the Breeding Chain

The county reported securing more than RMB 45.54 million in various subsidy and award funds and advancing five key projects, including beef cattle (yak) quality and volume improvement and livestock development subsidies. Specific figures reported include:

• A 750,000-mu genetic resource protection zone
• 30,000 breeding female animals
• Annual distribution of 2,400 quality breeding bulls
• Artificial insemination extended to 3,000 head per year, with a conception rate of 65%
• Three standardized slaughtering bases and three fine-cutting and marketing enterprises

The county describes a full-chain system spanning ecological grazing, collection and trading, slaughtering and processing, fine cutting, brand operations, and online and offline marketing. In the first half of the year, yak meat output reached 1,800 tonnes worth RMB 90 million, while mutton output reached 330 tonnes worth RMB 18 million.

Cool-Climate Vegetables: Building a Production and Sales Base

Datong is developing itself as a production and sales base in northern Xining for cool-climate vegetables, with standardization as a priority. Reported measures include:

• Intensive cultivation of 2 million vegetable seedlings and 100,000 edible mushroom sticks
• Propagation of 20 million quality seedlings, including cabbage, broccoli and choy sum
• 24 green, high-yield and efficient production bases
• Three vegetable industrial belts spanning 10,000 mu each
• 15 "unified planting and shared prosperity" bases
• Six single-product cool-climate vegetable bases
• 10 vegetable bases supplying Hong Kong
• 500 new plastic arch greenhouses and 248 mu of newly added protected vegetable area

A Hong Kong media delegation and a "Beautiful China Tour" interview group visited Datong's Hong Kong supply vegetable bases, which the county says helps broaden sales channels into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. To date, cool-climate vegetable output reached 12,000 tonnes worth RMB 36 million.

Processing: Extending the Value Chain

The county is building out deep processing capacity for agricultural and livestock products. Reported developments include:

• New production lines for rapeseed processing, packaged cherry tomatoes, vegetable processing and automated highland barley rice — one each; the tomato and vegetable lines are in acceptance testing
• A highland cool-climate vegetable industrial park project with new quick-freezing and tomato packaging lines, plus upgrades to 106 sets of greenhouse equipment
• Projects for Italian-style handmade ice cream, a 10,000-tonne-per-year dairy line and a 10,000-tonne dairy line under the Sanyangyun brand, with five filling lines completed
• Guidance for Qinghai Fengju Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Technology Co., Ltd. to enter a bonded zone
• A Datong yak headquarters processing base designed for fine processing of 50 yak carcasses per day

Branding and Quality Supervision

Datong is expanding authorization of the "Laoyeshan" regional public brand for vegetables. Based on its national standardized base for green food raw materials, the county reports:

• Three public brands, more than 120 enterprise brands, and 74 green, organic or geographical indication agricultural products
• An additional 15,000 mu of standardized raw material bases
• A brand matrix represented by "Laoyeshan" vegetables and "Lanqueshan" and "Ayeshen" yak meat

On quality control, the county reports 452 qualitative and 70 quantitative routine sampling tests, each with a pass rate of 98.3%; 5,200 certificates issued and 4,732 opened, a rate of 91%; and three green food certifications completed.

Cold Chain and Sales Channels

Cold-chain infrastructure is being improved to support outbound sales. Reported figures include 23 fresh-keeping warehouses with total capacity of 30,400 tonnes, along with pre-cooling, sorting, packaging and cold-chain logistics facilities. Eight operators were selected for cold-chain vehicle subsidies, and eight specialized refrigerated trucks were added. Post-harvest vegetable loss reportedly fell from 18% to under 8%.

The Changning agricultural products warehousing and cold-chain distribution center has been completed and put into operation. The county is also developing new products such as tribute vegetables, fruit corn and fresh broad beans, with two large-scale primary processing lines completed. Fourteen enterprises were guided onto the 832 platform and major e-commerce channels, and cool-climate vegetables are described as "directly sourced from production areas and delivered via cold chain," reaching the Greater Bay Area.

Circular Agriculture and Reduced Inputs

The county reports a 100,000-mu demonstration zone for a green planting and breeding circular agriculture pilot; 63,000 mu of full-film potato mulching; fertilizer reduction and efficiency measures on 125,000 mu; chemical pesticide reduction on 160,000 mu of grain and oil crops and 55,000 mu of vegetable fields, with chemical pesticide use down 20% versus before the action. It also describes a "3+N" manure resource utilization model combining planting and breeding, alongside rural livestock manure treatment.

What This Means for Foreign Founders

These figures are official county reports rather than investment guarantees. Still, they indicate where local capacity is being built: yak and mutton supply, cool-climate vegetables with Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area links, processing lines, cold-chain logistics, and brand and certification infrastructure. Foreign founders considering a China entity in agri-food trade, processing or distribution may find it useful to review such local task lists, confirm available incentives and requirements directly with local authorities, and conduct independent due diligence before committing capital.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.