Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Dairy Farming Coordination between Economy and Ecology in China

This paper focuses on the theme of the sustainable dairy industry and explores the coordination between the economy and ecology in dairy farming. Specifically, we constructed a composite dairy economy and ecology (DEE) system to evaluate the status of dairy farming. Based on the panel data of the nine primary milk producing provinces in China from 2003 to 2018, we estimated DEE changes with the coupling coordination degree model from perception of time. We then applied spatial autocorrelation model to analyze spatial heterogeneity. The results show that: (1) Seven of the nine provinces had experienced the three-stage process of economic lag–ecological lag–economic lag. Only Xinjiang and Ningxia have experienced the first two stages and are currently going through the economic lag status. (2) The coupling degree of DEE increased rapidly and has fluctuated around 0.5 since 2009. Furthermore, the degree of coordination of DEE went up continuously, and there was obvious regional differentiation. (3) Reduction of large-scale dairy farms is conducive to coordination between the dairy economy and ecology. (4) The positive spatial spillover effect on the coordination of DEE was not temporally steady. Our findings provide relevant evidence for improving the relationship between the economy and ecology for the sustainability of the dairy industry.