Specialty agricultural products transform into advantageous industries (Big Data Observation)

(Original Title: More Than 450 Distinctive Food-Producing Areas in China Transform Specialty Agri-Products into Advantageous Industries (Big Data Observation))

This year’s Central No. 1 Document calls for supporting the development of green, high-efficiency crop and livestock production; advancing deep processing of agricultural products; cultivating premium agricultural brands; and promoting development across the entire industry chain.

China is the world’s largest food-processing country, with an industry scale of about 9.8 trillion yuan. There are more than 450 distinctive food-producing areas, with an industrial scale exceeding 2.5 trillion yuan. Many distinctive foods come from distinctive agricultural products, originating from China’s vast rural areas. How do specialty agricultural products in rural areas turn into advantageous industries? Reporters went to find out.

Xinjiang Tomatoes: Supporting a Big Industry

At the production workshop of Xiaochu Food Co., Ltd. in Changji City, Xinjiang, bottles of tomato juice and tomato seasoning sauce are rolling off the line and getting packed; in the online livestreaming studio, the host is introducing the products in detail and answering questions, while order volumes keep increasing. From tomato chunks, tomato dices, and tomato sauce to tomato juice and tomato original juice… With such a range of products, the raw materials are all high-quality tomatoes grown locally in Xinjiang.

Last year, Zhang Yulin, a tomato grower from Xingfu Village in Erliu Gong Township of Changji City, signed an order contract with Xiaochu in advance: “All the tomatoes from more than 900 mu are purchased by the company. There’s no worry about selling.” Zhang Yulin worked out the numbers: with an average yield of 10 tons per mu, and an order price of 0.45 yuan per kilogram, the output value per mu reaches 4,500 yuan. “We can make money. This year, we’ll keep the order and keep planting tomatoes!”

At present, Xinjiang has developed into an important base for the tomato industry. The main planting areas are distributed across places such as Changji, Shihezi, Kuitun, Shawan, Wusu, and Bo’le, as well as counties and cities in the Yinge Basin.

In 2025, Xinjiang’s processed tomato planting area reached 520k mu, with production of 4.8 million tons. The level of full mechanization reached 99%, with both mechanized sowing and mechanized harvesting rates exceeding 98.5%. It has more than 70 processing enterprises, most of which focus on producing large-bucket tomato sauce; and the product categories and output for small-pack tomato products have also increased significantly, forming a full industry-chain system covering breeding, planting, processing, and sales.

At COFCO Tunhe Changji Tomato Products Co., Ltd., whenever the harvest season arrives, dispatch staff use the COFCO tomato information management platform to learn in one click about the total quantity delivered after entering the yard, the number of transport vehicles, and the number of harvesting machines online—compressing as much as possible the time from harvest to finished products. The platform can also arrange harvesting of the most suitable varieties during the best ripening period based on consumers’ needs for different products. Currently, the company has developed 39 tomato varieties. It has effectively broken bottlenecks in seed industries and also runs a “Tomato Classroom,” providing precise guidance on key technical points across the entire process of planting, growing, managing, and harvesting processing tomatoes. Each year, it trains more than 5,000 tomato growers.

“All of our fully automated production lines are running. In 24 hours, we can process more than 8,000 tons of raw materials for processing tomatoes,” said Yu Chunshan, vice chairman of the Xinjiang Tomato Industry Association and general manager of Xinjiang Xiaochu Food Co., Ltd. In 2025, the company’s output of tomato products reached 110k tons, including 20k tons of tomato sauce, directly driving more income increases for 120-plus processing tomato growers.

“Because of Xinjiang’s unique natural climate, its tomatoes have higher sugar content. After being made into tomato sauce, the lycopene content exceeds 70 milligrams per gram, far higher than national standards, which is very popular in the market,” Yu Chunshan said. As consumers pay more attention to nutrition and health, the distinctive advantages of Xinjiang tomato products have widened the sales market; both exports and domestic sales are going well.

Fuping Sheep Milk: Exploring New Business Formats

As dawn breaks and the mist has not yet dispersed, in the Yongbei Group of Shuangyang Village, Chongga Town, Gongtang Township, Dangxiong County, Tibet—two modern automated milking stations are running in sync. The mechanized milking platforms are busy without stopping. “Everyone in the village raises livestock; my family relies on raising sheep, and I can earn more than 200,000 yuan extra each year!” said a livestock grower, Xiang B in.

In Cao Guan Village of Liuji Township, in the digital breeding base for high-yield dairy goats in Weinan Production Investment (WPI), 1,500 Saanen dairy goats imported from Australia are wearing intelligent ear tags and chewing on silage feed. The livestock management personnel use their phones to check health data in real time. In the past, raising livestock relied on experience; now they are moving toward intelligent and digital management.

Fuping is the county with the largest dairy goat breeding base in China. The dairy goat inventory reaches 950k head, with annual production of 261k tons of fresh goat milk. It has titles such as “Home of Dairy Goats” and “Capital of Goat Milk.” Cui Yifei, director of the Fuping County Animal Husbandry Development Center, said that Fuping has established the dairy goat industry as a pillar industry of the county’s economy. Today, many growers have built new houses and bought new cars thanks to the dairy goat industry—their lives are getting better and better.

“Goat milk contains abundant proteins, amino acids, and minerals. It has high nutritional value and is easy to digest and absorb, so it is very popular with consumers,” said Cui Yifei, director of the Fuping County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. To promote industrial upgrading, the county has built a national modern agricultural industrial park, forming a full industry-chain system for the dairy goat industry. It supports eight enterprises such as Hongxing Meiling, Jinniu Dairy, and Shengtang Dairy to build milk source bases, conduct fine-breed propagation of good varieties, expand processing capacity, develop new products, and promote integrated development of forage and livestock.

In the newly built production workshop of Shaanxi Yangyang Xiang Dairy Co., Ltd., the liquid goat milk production line is running smoothly. “We innovated the process: it can remove the goaty smell while fully preserving active nutritional components. This production line can process 100k tons of fresh goat milk per year, and is expected to create 1.25 billion yuan in sales revenue for the full year,” said Yang Bing, deputy general manager of the company.

In Fuping, goat milk enterprises are actively exploring industrial innovation. Some have developed their own production lines for goat cheese and goat milk powder, breaking the dependence of domestically produced infant and young child formula goat milk powder on imported goat milk powder. Some have opened goat milk cafés in places such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong, actively exploring new business formats… Today, the qualification rate of milk product sampling and testing in Fuping has remained at 100% for five consecutive years. With the dairy goat industry, 120k people have achieved employment and income growth, and the average income increase per grower’s household is 20,000 yuan.

Tibet Spring Water: “Good Water” from the Plateau

In Chongga Village, Gongtang Township, Dangxiong County, Lhasa, Tibet, between the embrace of snow mountains, a modern “water factory” is in operation—well-known glacier mineral water is produced, bottled here, and then shipped across the country. As the province with the richest freshwater resources in China, Tibet has a total freshwater volume of nearly 500 billion cubic meters, accounting for 16.5% of the national total; the per-capita water resource availability ranks first in the country.

Based on these natural endowments, Tibet has vigorously promoted the development of the “Tibet’s Good Water” industry. It has issued multiple policy documents, including opinions to speed up the development of natural drinking water. It has also supported industrial transformation and upgrading, cost reduction and efficiency gains, improved quality and capacity expansion, and strengthening of the chain, by carrying out intelligent/digital upgrades, bringing in supporting enterprises, and subsidizing products shipped out of Tibet.

In recent years, Tibet’s production of natural drinking water has grown by more than 20% year on year on average. It has built more than 60 production lines, with designed production capacity of over 5 million tons. Fifty-six natural drinking water production enterprises have obtained food production licenses.

In Nyingchi, a “water factory” covering 126 mu has been built and put into operation. Plateau water from the water source area of Nyainqêntanglha Mountain is processed, bottled, and labeled to become bottled water. The company opened by Nongfu Spring plans multiple production lines covering categories such as natural drinking water, fruit juice drinks, and tea drinks, with annual output of 590k tons. “Here we have high-quality natural water sources, which can provide a solid quality guarantee for Nongfu Spring’s products,” said the person in charge of the enterprise.

To ensure that the water source area is not polluted, the local authorities have designated protected areas and standardized production processes. Enterprises strictly dispatch production capacity according to needs. “Only with more care for the water source area can we ensure ‘a steady flow of clean water for the long term.’” Wang Hua, general manager of the 5100 mineral water production enterprise, said.

As the water industry has grown stronger, the benefits to improve people’s livelihoods have become increasingly evident. Ciji Renwangjie is a local person from Chongga Village. Now he works for a local drinking water enterprise. At the beginning, he knew nothing about operating various advanced equipment. With the company’s support, he went to learn multiple times in other places. Gradually, he mastered the various skills and became a hands-on operator—from an ordinary factory worker to a production manager.

It is reported that this mineral water production enterprise helps realize close to 100k yuan in annual household income per household by absorbing 95% of local villagers for employment.

Today, “Tibet’s Good Water,” in its pure form, has become the calling card of Tibet’s local specialty food industry. A group of Tibetan water brands such as 5100, Gesangquan, Zhuomaquan, Dayao Shengquan, and Gongrenboci have earned consumer recognition for their high quality. At present, Tibet’s natural drinking water enterprises not only directly and indirectly drive employment, but also benefit nearby residents through poverty alleviation via industry or profit sharing. In the future, the local area will continue to deeply tap the industry’s potential and make natural drinking water one of the important industries for boosting local livelihoods and strengthening the region.

Layout Design: Wang Zhiping