'Teaching the soil to eat' before planting

“Teaching the soil to eat”

Currently working as the Director of Liem Anh High-Tech Organic Agriculture Cooperative, Nguyen Thanh Liem (born in 1988, Dong Son village, Lien Bao commune, Bac Ninh province), graduated with a degree in agriculture in 2012. He stayed in Hanoi to grow clean vegetables with his former lecturer while also working as a delivery driver for extra income. In 2015, he returned to his hometown – Dong Son village. When he examined the land, which had been abandoned for years, he found the subsoil as hard as coal slag.

During the first three years, Liem did not rush to plant any crops. His philosophy was “teaching the soil to eat,” focusing solely on restoring the soil. He used biological products, buried straw into the soil, and added rice-husk biochar and organic matter to attract microorganisms, waiting for the hard subsoil to gradually loosen. He then grew leafy vegetables, melons, and tomatoes in membrane houses.

After that period, he realized that clean vegetables sold very slowly in the local market because consumers were not yet familiar with them. Demand was unstable, so finding customers was hard at first. In 2020, he switched to growing grapes, starting with a single membrane house. He took one step after another, slowly but steadily. His cultivated area eventually expanded to 2,500 sqare meters.

Now, there is not a single bag of inorganic fertilizer in his storage. He uses only organic products in his two grape gardens. Rather than buying bagged organic fertilizer from stores, he makes his own. “Making organic fertilizer yourself is hard work, but it helps lower production costs. If I buy organic fertilizer on the market, it drives up product prices and makes them harder to sell,” he said.

At times, he grew straw mushrooms and used the spent straw as fertilizer for his grapevines. In winter, when the grapevines go dormant, he grows Akamatsutake mushrooms in the furrows between the vines, filling the seasonal gap while creating a natural layer of organic matter.

Liem estimates that making his own organic fertilizer saves him 10-15% of input costs. That may not sound like much, but for a farm covering nearly 2 hectares, it represents a significant annual saving. More importantly, during the surge of inorganic fertilizer prices, his model is barely affected.

Fertilizing is like “taking a patient’s pulse”

According to Liem, using organic fertilizer incorrectly can be even more harmful than using inorganic fertilizer. “Chicken manure is high in nitrogen and has a strong heating effect. If you apply too much when the plant is preparing to flower, it can prevent flower buds from developing. During the rainy season, if you apply 2 kg per plant and it rains that afternoon, followed by sunshine the next morning, the plants can suddenly become sick,” he said.

Grapevines have fibrous root systems with fine, hair-like root tips. When exposed to organic fertilizer that is too hot or too salty, the roots shrink. Over time, the root tips can rot, causing the plant to gradually weaken without an obvious cause. It is not only about using the right type of organic fertilizer but also applying it at the right time and place. If the roots have spread outward but fertilizer is applied around the base, the plant cannot absorb it effectively.

During the fruit development stage, Liem ferments discarded bananas with biological products to extract potassium, which helps the grapes develop well and become sweeter. He buys bruised and rotten bananas at low prices and ferments them for two to three months, then dilutes the mixture and sprays it on the leaves when needed. He separately ferments fish protein and soybean pulp so that one batch is always ready when another runs out.

Liem pays particular attention to soil pH. Organic fertilizers often have a low pH of 4-5, while plants grow well when soil pH is around 6-6.5. Applying large amounts of organic fertilizer without monitoring pH can gradually acidify the soil, preventing roots from absorbing nutrients. Lime must then be applied to raise the pH.

“Many people apply lime out of habit without understanding why. If the soil is acidic, lime raises the pH; if the soil is too alkaline, manure helps bring it down. You cannot just apply fertilizer or lime without knowing what the soil needs,” he noted.

Another point he often emphasizes is that chemical fertilizer can make plants turn green within just a few days, whereas organic fertilizer takes weeks because soil microorganisms need to break down organic matter and convert it into inorganic forms that roots can absorb. Not many people understand this process. When they see no immediate greening after applying organic fertilizer, they give up or mix in chemical fertilizer.

“Selling trust” to customers

Liem has managed to survive in a market where imported Korean grapes sell for VND 700,000-800,000 per kilogram, while his grapes sell for VND 200,000-300,000 per kilogram.

He does not compete on price. Instead, he competes with something supermarket grapes cannot offer: customers can pick the grapes themselves, eat them in the garden, and see the entire production process.

“Eating grapes straight from the vine at the farm brings out a feeling completely different from taking them out of a refrigerator. We have already optimized our costs, so we still make a profit while customers feel they are getting good value,” he said.

The farm experience was not an idea Liem came up with from the beginning. It grew out of a painful lesson from his days growing melons. The melons ripened all at once and had to be harvested within a few days. Traders would pressure him on prices or make appointments and fail to show up, leaving overripe fruit to ferment and rot on the vines.

That experience changed his thinking. He no longer wanted traders to determine the fate of his harvest. At first, he posted content about his grapes on social media, and the first visitors began arriving. Gradually, it became a habit: every season, customers would come on their own. During peak season, he welcomed 1,000-2,000 visitors per month. Most of them were local families bringing young children to pick grapes and take photos.

To keep labor costs under control, Liem raises 20 geese in the garden. Wherever the geese go, the grass gets cleared. “Hiring a worker to weed costs VND 250,000-300,000 a day, and they don't get that much done. Raising geese gives us eggs to eat and sell, keeps the grass under control, and is thus much more efficient,” he said.

The effectiveness of the model is visible to the naked eye. “Good things speak for themselves.” He has been invited several times to southern Vietnam to introduce and provide guidance on his farming model.

$ 1 = VND 26,310 - Source: Vietcombank.