Vinamilk Da Lat Dairy Farm Cluster Honored at Vietnam Environmental Awards

The Vietnam Environment Award is the most prestigious environmental award organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment every two years, to recognize organizations, individuals, and communities that have made great contributions in terms of effort and intelligence to the cause of environmental protection. In 2021, after 2 rounds of careful evaluation of 234 applications, the Council and Advisory Board unanimously awarded the Vietnam Environment Award to 20 organizations, 10 individuals, and 3 outstanding community groups.

Representatives of Vinamilk Da Lat Dairy Farm and organizations and individuals with outstanding achievements at the Vietnam Environmental Awards. Photo: PV

Vinamilk is a business that has been honored for many consecutive years at this award with modern factories and dairy farms that meet international standards and do a good job of protecting the environment.

At this year's award ceremony, Vinamilk received high praise because in the field of livestock and agriculture, minimizing negative impacts on the environment is very challenging, requiring thorough investment from businesses and flexible application of regenerative agriculture models and circular economy to help improve the environment.

Vinamilk Organic Da Lat Dairy Farm. Photo: PV

Located in the south of Lam Vien plateau, Vinamilk Da Lat dairy farm cluster includes 3 dairy farms, developed according to GlobalG.AP and European Organic (EU Organic) standards, with the capacity to supply about 8,238 tons of raw fresh milk/year. Of which, Vinamilk Organic Da Lat farm is the first European organic farm in Vietnam, put into operation since 2017, with a current output of 4,129 tons of organic fresh milk per year.

Since the start of construction, Vinamilk has invested in many modern technologies to preserve the environment inside and around the farm, while promoting sustainable development initiatives, limiting negative impacts on the environment.

The most typical is that waste management and treatment are all carried out according to strict procedures. The farm applies equipment lines imported from Europe to collect and treat livestock waste, and also invests in a large-capacity Biogas tank system, which helps turn waste into organic fertilizer for crops and improve the soil. The gas is used to heat water to sterilize milk for calves, dry grass and serve the farm's operations. The farm also applies organic carbon technology from Japan to handle odor problems in livestock farming, with initial positive results, and odors have been almost completely resolved.

The installed solar energy system helps save electricity effectively. Photo: PV

Vinamilk Dalat Dairy Farm is also one of the pioneer farms in applying renewable energy technology very early. Electricity from the solar energy system has been used for lighting and other operations of the farm.

It is estimated that the amount of solar power generated from the farm helps reduce emissions of nearly 6,000 tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to planting 310,000 trees. By early 2022, all Vinamilk farms have completed the installation of solar power.

Lush corn fields at Vinamilk Da Lat farm after 3 years of land improvement and restoration.

In addition, other initiatives help protect soil resources and regenerate soil, such as rotating legume crops to help restore soil fertility, organic farming, and applying software to manage soil. Thanks to that, the soil becomes more and more porous, minimizing erosion and providing a stable, quality food source for dairy cows.

Rotating legume crops also helps make the soil in Vinamilk Da Lat farms more fertile. Photo: PV

The farm also develops large model fields that meet Organic standards and grows plants suitable for the climate and soil, creating a green biosphere. The green landscape and fresh air are the most obvious results of many years of persistently implementing good environmental protection work on the farm.

Cool, fresh green space at Vinamilk Organic Da Lat dairy farm. Photo: PV

The system of 13 farms spread across the country plays an important role in the company's value chain, therefore, applying high technology to agriculture and dairy farming in the direction of sustainable development and environmental friendliness is identified by Vinamilk as one of the key strategies.

In addition to the European organic farm, Vinamilk currently has 3 farms built according to the Green Farm ecological model, all of which are certified with “Global Good Agricultural Practices (GlobalG.AP). These efforts by Vinamilk not only contribute to ensuring the supply of international-standard fresh milk but also promote the Vietnamese agriculture and dairy farming industry towards a more sustainable, greener trend and towards the formation of “net-zero” dairy farms in the near future./.