Green flow, clean farm: Effective water resources use at TH farm

Agriculture is the largest water-consuming industry in Vietnam, with a total water volume of about 93 billion m3, accounting for 80.6% of the total amount of water used each year, while this figure in the world is only 70%.

In the context of increasingly severe climate change and the risk of water shortages becoming more serious, TH Group's model of "Dairy farming and concentrated milk processing on a high-tech industrial scale" has become a typical example of the application of high technology. This chain aims to use natural resources economically and effectively; contributing to protecting nature and ensuring sustainable agricultural development.

"Green flow" at TH - inspires the processing process from green pastures to fresh glasses of milk

Located in the downstream area of Sao River, on the Phu Quy plateau of Nghe An, is a concentrated dairy farm, applying high technology with a scale of approximately 70 thousand cows of TH Group.

In agricultural production in general and especially with a corporation producing agricultural products applying high technology, science, technology and management science that are intertwined like TH, water resources are especially important.

Therefore, TH Group chose the location right south of Sao River Lake to build farms and factories. The gentle river becomes a natural source that arises, nourishes and creates new vitality for the western region of Nghe An.

Consistently following the closed process "from green pastures to clean glasses of milk", at TH farm, cows always enjoy the cleanest and purest water source according to the highest domestic water standards QCVN 01 - 2009/BYT. That result was achieved thanks to a humane decision of the head of TH Group - Labor Hero Thai Huong.

She affirmed: “When it comes to agriculture, we have to talk about Mother Nature. If you want to do good and sustainable agriculture, you must protect Mother Nature. Therefore, when building a strategy for TH, from the beginning we oriented towards a green economy, circular economy, and closed production chain, inheriting the world's development achievements in science and technology, and management science, and intertwining them with artificial intelligence. This is to create product quality and the most reasonable production costs. We must take full advantage of Vietnamese agriculture to bring Vietnamese agricultural products into strong international integration".

In 2010, when the project first came into operation, to have enough water up to thousands of m3 per day for cows, while waiting for the clean water plant to be completed, TH invested in construction. TH farm chose to buy water at the Thai Hoa water plant, the only place providing qualified domestic water in Nghia Dan at that time. That means the business has agreed to spend more money, buying water to use in dairy farming to ensure the health of the cows. This is so that cows can produce the best fresh milk, contributing to bringing the quality of the company's final products to the market to meet international standards, and for public health.

More specifically, TH agreed to spend a huge amount of money to support the Thai Hoa water plant in terms of both human and material resources. The sole purpose is to ensure enough water for the cows at any time of the day.

“From the Thai Hoa water plant to the farm sites, there is a radius of 20km, but there is no water pipeline. We have organized continuous tanker convoys to transport water and arranged units on duty at many points to receive water. We also support water plants with pumps and generators to ensure adequate water supply 24/7. We even had to send staff to operate the generator for a while to ensure clean water on the farm... In addition, we regularly control the water source at both ends and have sealed and lead-clamped water tanks to ensure the truck only carries water and not other materials", Mr. Nguyen Vinh Son, Director of Maintenance Department - TH Dairy Foods Joint Stock Company said.

Not only important in ensuring the production of international standard glasses of fresh milk, clean water is also very important in the transportation and distribution of fresh milk. Mr Vijay Kumar Pandey - Chairman of the Board of Directors of TH Dairy Foods Joint Stock Company shared: “We use clean water in all of our processes. We are extremely cautious and always make sure that the cows have access to the cleanest and safest water source."

Applying advanced technology, returning water to Mother Nature in the most thoughtful way

Not only focusing on domestic and operational water treatment, TH also focuses on wastewater treatment, applying the most advanced wastewater treatment technologies today to return safe, standard-abiding water to nature, ensuring the sustainable development of high-tech agriculture.

According to Mr. Pham Vinh Son, this is the first and only factory in Vietnam that can comprehensively treat dairy waste. The operation stage saves maximum human resources and can be controlled using an app on the phone. All solids after treatment can be used as organic fertilizer.

Carefully save every drop of water...

With the principle of "cherishing Mother Nature", TH has carefully extracted every drop of water at every step of the entire process to create pure white milk. On TH's sunflower, corn, sorghum and grass fields, the group has invested in 15 automatic irrigation systems, including 13 PIVOT "giant arms" ranging from 500-700m long. These fields integrated effective fertilization features and 2 automatic REEL HOSE irrigation rigs with Italian technology that can flexibly control the amount of irrigation water to suit each type of terrain.

“Advanced irrigation technology like TH saves maximum water and labour, only 1-2 people are used to irrigate a large field, the watering density is very uniform compared to manual watering, and the timing is very precise, ensuring maximum plant growth".

Following its success in Nghe An, TH has been replicating the dairy farming model applying high technology to create fresh, sweet milk in many localities across the country such as Thanh Hoa, Da Lat, Phu Yen, An Giang...