USDEC leads China Business Development Mission

USDEC President and CEO Krysta Harden joined USDEC Chair Alex Peterson, Vice Chair Becky Nyman, 15 USDEC members, and key staff in Beijing and Shanghai in late June on a business development mission in collaboration with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

The visit to Beijing and Shanghai had two broad goals:

• Build and strengthen relationships between U.S. dairy suppliers and Chinese buyers.

• Promote U.S.-China agricultural trade relationships.

It sought to fulfill those goals by engaging—through a series of meetings and other events—with Chinese dairy importers, processors, dairy and business associations and USDEC’s partner Jiangnan University.

It also included visits to retail establishments, including an upscale grocery store in Beijing. Shown in the photo above, from left, are Victor Sun, son of the store’s founder; Becky Nyman, USDEC Vice Chair and California dairy farmer; Martha Scott Poindexter, USDEC Chief Operating Officer; Alex Peterson, USDEC Chair and Missouri dairy farmer; Krysta Harden, USDEC President and CEO, and a store employee.