Land O’Lakes, Inc., Arden Hills, Minn., announced a joint venture with Royal Agrifirm Group, The Netherlands, to set up a dairy animal feed joint venture in China. The new company, Agrilakes, will leverage existing market knowledge, insights, technologies and research capability from both Land O’Lakes and Agrifirm to provide world-class service to China-based feed customers and dairy farmers.

“With this new investment in China alongside Agrifirm, we are continuing Land O’Lakes’ successful international commercial growth strategy focused on partnering with locally-successful companies and working together to drive market expansion,” says Jerry Kaminski, executive vice president and COO of Land O’Lakes. “Thanks to Agrifirm’s established infrastructure and reputation in China, paired with Land O’Lakes’ strong research and technology expertise, we are confident this new joint venture is well-positioned to help grow both companies.”

“With more than 20 years of market experience in China, this joint venture with Land O’Lakes positions Agrifirm to further implement its growth strategy and continue developing a reliable, responsible food chain for future generations in China,” says Dick Hordijk, chief executive officer of Agrifirm. “Agrifirm is proud to bring more than 100 years of experience in the feed and dairy business and deep experience in China to this new joint venture. We look forward to leveraging the knowledge, experience and products of both Agrifirm and Land O’Lakes to strengthen our China market presence and help China’s dairy farmers on the road to success.”

The new joint venture will initially be based in Agrifirm’s existing manufacturing plant in Tianjin, China, with plans to build a new dairy pre-mix and specialty plant on the adjacent property.