Dali is a land of fish and rice. Vegetables are plentiful, with radish, carrot, potato, lettuce, cabbage, greens, cabbage mustard, cauliflower, spinach, leaf beet, water spinach, celery, onion, garlic, leek, mushroom, lily, lotus root, fennel, ginger, pea, taro, balsam, tomato, eggplant, red pepper, cucumber, pumpkin to name a few. The people in the villages usually breed pigs, rabbits, cows, horses, goats, sheep, donkeys, mules, and chickens at home. Almost the entire families breed one of some of all the animals mentioned above. The villagers near the lake or river also breed ducks, geese, and many types of fish.
Some fishermen also breed cormorants.
People usually don't breed turkeys for they don't like to eat turkey. Since the living standard has been greatly improved during the past 10 years, more and more villagers breed the Holstein cattle for milk. Natural Resources Dali is abundant in natural resources, it has the famous Dali marble mine. The Erhai Lake is one of the seventh biggest freshwater lakes in China. It is 1973 meters above the sea level, covering 250 square kilometers.