An Iowa State University senior in economics and ag business is going to China to work with that country’s fledgling dairy industry. Twenty-one-year-old Lorilee Schultz learned of USDA internship earlier this month.She’ll be working on the South China Dairy Improvement Project. With what she describes as her “strong dairy background,” she’ll mainly work with producers to hopefully improve their herds, while working to create opportunities for US imports into China, like forages and genetics. Her job will be to edit market reports and organize a series of seminars throughout southeast China for dairy producers. “If I was to pick anywhere in the world that I was going to go, China would probably not be the first place on the list,” she says. “But it’s an exciting opportunity and I’m really grateful for it and looking forward to it.” It’s an opportunity that didn’t exist a few generations ago since the Chinese traditionally didn’t consume milk or cheese. She says dairy consumption in China is increasing at a tremendous rate now, and the Chinese dairy industry is “exploding,” according to Schultz. The senior from Ogden says they’ve already lined up an apartment for her and she spent her last few days in Iowa practicing Chinese, which she does not speak. She plans to be at her office January 7 in Guangzhou for the USDA’s International Agricultural Internship program.
