Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, along with a few agriculture industry representatives and Texas A&M scientists, embarked on a trip this week to Gansu — the so-called "Wild West" of China — looking for more business opportunities in China's northwest region.

"Texas agriculture has a reputation around the world for being a leader in quality and dependability," Miller told China Daily prior to his departure. "There has long been an international dialogue between Texas and our counterparts across the globe."

"The goal of the Texas Department of Agriculture's visit to China is to increase trade opportunities for Texas producers, which translates into dollars added to the Texas economy," he added.

Del Davis, a Texas nutritionist at Ralco Animal Nutrition, a multi-nation company based in Marshall, MN, said that he and other delegation members will attend an international agricultural workshop in Jinchang, while Miller meets with officials of the Gansu provincial government to discuss trade expansion.

The Texas delegation also includes Texas A&M scientists Steve Smith, David Riely and Charles Long, and Bill Holloway from Ralco, Davis said.

"We have been working with Gansu to improve its cattle feed, and during this trip, we will seek opportunities for potential beef export to China," he said.

Davis has been traveling to Gansu since 2010 to implement Ralco's Sila-Max product, a silage additive to enhance the fermentation of silage and livestock performance.

Wu Jianping, vice-president of Gansu Agricultural University in Lanzhou and the workshop organizer, said he began working with the USDA on sustainable agricultural research in 2012.

According to Wu, Ralco's product turned the silage into cattle feed and helped the farmers save about two kilos of corn a day per head of cattle.

"It significantly lowers the cost for livestock owners," said Wu.

Wu said that China is likely to open up its beef market to the US and Texas is a big producer of high quality beef. There are ongoing talks about China importing beef from the US and the possibility of food company SYSCO establishing a beef processing and distribution center in northwest China to serve both China and Central Asia. Another potential project is a lamb meat processing facility with a similar aim.

Topics such as cattle grazing and food production on the Gobi Desert and improving China's dairy production will also be addressed by the delegation at the workshop, which begins on Aug 18.