Our English edition of the magazine has traversed the globe since 1885. Even though dairy farmers in more than 60 countries subscribe to our signature publication, people prefer to read and comprehend in their native tongues. That’s the principle reason why Hoard’s Dairyman has developed partnerships with like-minded publishers. Having launched the Japanese magazine in 1989 and the Spanish publication in 1994, a Chinese edition was the next logical step.

The CN Agri Science Group will lead the publication efforts in China with Dr. Cao Zhijun serving as the editor-in-chief and Jiaying Ma as managing editor. Both are affiliated with the China Agricultural University and the greater Chinese dairy industry. That foundation will support our guiding principle to bring research-based information to dairy farmers.

At the onset, Hoard’s Dairyman China will be published quarterly in print. Electronic articles will be delivered weekly on WeChat, which is the leading mode of electronic communication in the world’s most populous country. More than 900 million Chinese use this mobile platform.

Hoard’s Dairyman China will include carefully selected content from the English edition. In addition, Cao and Ma will work with Chinese specialists to report in-country research. On select occasions, we will even copublish articles such as “Dairy Challenge takes root in China,” on pages 558 and 559 of this issue.

There may be some among us who have concerns about sharing dairy insight with the world’s most populous nation. China certainly has room to grow its dairy industry, as it has only 7.2 million commercial dairy cows for its 1.4 billion citizens. In contrast, the U.S. has 9.4 million cows providing for 325 million Americans. China’s first goal is to produce a glass of milk for every child.

Despite the inroads Mexico has made on dairying since the launch of our Spanish edition in 1994, it remains our number one dairy product export customer. Meanwhile, Japan ranks fifth and China holds down the fourth position for dairy product purchases from the United States.

Why is that?

It’s been proven that when countries grow their dairy industry, domestic product consumption grows, too. With that in mind, we are pleased to add the Chinese edition to our family of publications that include English, Japanese, and Spanish.