Sustainability | Thalvora Foods

Five years of regenerative farming: healthier soil and 22% lower fertiliser costs for farmers

gioithieucongty09.mauwebdep.com.vn — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 14:28:11 +0000

In 2021, Thalvora Foods launched a regenerative farming programme to restore soil health in growing areas that had been farmed intensively for many years. After five seasons, the company has published its first assessment report, carried out with an independent team of agronomists across 1,850 ha in Cau Dat, Duc Trong and Dong Thap.

What changed in the fields

Rather than imposing a single model, the programme built a set of practices suited to each crop and each type of land. Participating households adopt at least four of the following six practices:

Covering the soil with legumes or crop residues between seasons;
Rotating leafy greens with root vegetables to break pest cycles;
Composting on site using trimmings from the Duc Trong processing plant;
Drip irrigation with soil moisture sensors;
Reduced deep tillage to protect soil structure;
Shade trees and windbreaks in Arabica coffee plots.

Results after five seasons

Compared with a control group farming conventionally in the same areas, participating plots recorded:

Average soil organic matter rising from 2.1% to 2.9%;
27% less irrigation water, thanks to better moisture retention and drip systems;
A 22% reduction in chemical fertiliser costs and a 31% reduction in crop protection costs;
Stable yields, varying by no more than 5% from pre-conversion levels.

What matters most to farmers is that incomes have become less volatile. In the 2025 rainy season, when many temperate vegetable areas were waterlogged, plots with ground cover and drainage channels laid out under the programme suffered noticeably lower losses.

Soil is a farmer's most valuable asset, and Thalvora's too. We cannot talk about long-term growth if the land grows a little poorer every year. — Mr Tran Duc Hung, Director of Agriculture and Sourcing

How Thalvora supports farmers

Participating households receive on-farm guidance from our agronomists, a contribution towards the cost of irrigation equipment and compost from our plant at a preferential price. Thalvora guarantees to buy their produce at a floor price agreed at the start of each season, with a bonus for lots that meet VietGAP or GlobalG.A.P. standards.

Ms Le Thi Thu, a vegetable grower in Hiep Thanh commune, Duc Trong, who joined in the first season, says the second year was the hardest because the family had to get used to new ways of working. From the third year, however, input costs fell noticeably and the soil became much looser. Her family has now converted all 1.2 ha to the programme's practices, and she mentors new participants in her village.

Targets for 2030

The company aims to extend the programme to 6,000 ha, close to half of its 12,500 ha of contracted growing areas, and to publish assessment data every year. The full report is available to partners and interested organisations on request at info@xxxxx.vn.

Cau Dat farmer training season 2026: more than 1,300 farmer places on sustainable coffee and vegetable growing

gioithieucongty09.mauwebdep.com.vn — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 14:28:11 +0000

From mid-June to mid-August 2026, Thalvora Foods' Cau Dat growing region held its annual farmer training season, the largest to date. Over eight weeks, 64 classes took place in vegetable fields and coffee gardens, with more than 1,300 farmer places filled. Women accounted for 41% of participants, and nearly 300 farmers were taking part for the first time after joining our network.

Learning in the field, not in a hall

Since 2006, when Cau Dat became Thalvora's growing region for temperate vegetables and Arabica coffee, the company has chosen to train farmers on site. Each class has only 15 to 25 people and takes place on a plot belonging to one of the group's households. Our agronomists guide, farmers practise, and everyone discusses what they observe together.

This year's programme covered five main topics:

Integrated pest management: identifying natural predators, setting monitoring traps and spraying only when pest levels exceed thresholds;
Arabica coffee processing: selective picking of ripe cherries, controlled fermentation and drying on raised beds;
Water-efficient irrigation: operating and maintaining drip systems with soil moisture sensors;
Digital farm records: logging fertiliser, spraying and harvest dates on a phone so they link to each lot's QR code;
Occupational safety: using protective equipment and storing farm inputs correctly.

Digital records replace notebooks

Digital farm records drew the most interest. Farmers used to keep paper notebooks that agronomists compiled at the end of each season, a slow process in which records were easily lost. Now each household can log activities directly in an app with just a few taps, even without a mobile signal. This data underpins Thalvora's commitment that 100% of its growing areas are QR-traceable, and it allows buyers in Japan and Europe to check the cultivation history of each vegetable lot.

Cau Dat farmers have decades of experience. We are not there to teach them from scratch, but to work with them on ways of farming that cost less, are safer and earn a better price in the market. — Mr Tran Duc Hung, Director of Agriculture and Sourcing

A younger generation returns

One notable feature of this year's season was the number of young participants. Almost 180 trainees were under 30, many of whom had worked in cities before returning to take over the family farm. They picked up the digital records quickly and now help older households in their villages.

Mr Phan Minh Khoa, 27, says that after the coffee processing course his family began separating selectively picked ripe cherries and now sells them to Thalvora at a price around 15% higher than strip-picked coffee.

Results and next steps

After the season, 92% of trainees said they would apply at least one new technique next season. Thalvora agronomists will follow up on farms over the next three months and measure the impact through yield, cost and lot quality data. From 2027, the field-class model will be extended to the Dong Thap fruit region.

Farmers interested in joining our sourcing programme can call our hotline on 1900 14xx.

Hat Mam Scholarship Fund 2026 awards 520 scholarships to children of farming families

gioithieucongty09.mauwebdep.com.vn — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 14:28:11 +0000

In early June 2026, Thalvora Foods' Hat Mam (Seedling) Scholarship Fund held its twelfth annual award ceremony in Duc Trong, Lam Dong, where the company began as a 14-household vegetable cooperative in 1998. This year, the fund awarded 520 scholarships worth a total of VND 3.1 billion to pupils and students from contracted farming families in our three sourcing regions of Lam Dong, Dong Thap and Tien Giang.

Three scholarship streams

Scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic results, family circumstances and community involvement, across three streams:

School scholarships: 380 awards for pupils from grade 6 to grade 12, each worth VND 4 million plus a set of school supplies;
University scholarships: 120 awards for students in any year of study, each worth VND 12 million a year, with priority for agriculture, food technology, engineering and economics;
Reach Further scholarships: 20 full scholarships covering tuition and living costs for the whole degree for students facing particular hardship.

More than financial support

Since 2015, the fund has awarded more than 4,700 scholarships in total. In addition to financial support, university scholars are paired with a Thalvora employee as a mentor, invited to summer internships at our factories and growing regions, and given priority consideration for jobs when they graduate. Today, 86 Hat Mam alumni work at the company, many of them as agronomists, quality assurance specialists and production shift managers.

In 1998, when we started with 14 vegetable-growing households, what those families wanted most was for their children to complete their education. Hat Mam is how Thalvora keeps that promise to more than 18,000 farming households today. — Ms Nguyen Thi Hanh Dung, Chair of the Board of Directors and Founder, Thalvora Foods

Stories from our scholars

Ms Luong Thi Ngoc Bich, whose family grows passion fruit in Dong Thap, received a Hat Mam scholarship from grade 9 and then a university scholarship to study food technology. After graduating in 2023, she became a quality control specialist at the Tien Giang dried fruit plant, which processes passion fruit from her home region.

Ka Sinh, a grade 11 pupil in Lam Ha, Lam Dong, is one of this year's recipients. She hopes to study agronomy so she can help her family and village grow coffee more sustainably.

Funding and transparency

The fund is financed from the company's annual budget, voluntary contributions from employees and a share of revenue from our Cau Dat Arabica ground coffee. Recipients are selected by a panel including representatives of the company, schools and local authorities, and income and expenditure are reported every year.

Growing in 2027

Next year, the fund plans to increase to 600 scholarships and add vocational awards for young people who want to train as machine operators, industrial electricians or logistics staff, in line with recruitment needs at the Binh Duong beverage plant and the Bac Ninh distribution centre. Details of eligibility are shared with local cooperative groups and schools; any questions can be sent to info@xxxxx.vn.