Sustainability

Clean food, grown responsibly

why it matters

Sustainability here starts with public health

In much of the world, sustainability is a conversation about carbon. In Vietnam it also has to be a conversation about what is actually on the leaf. Pesticide residue in everyday vegetables is not a rumour here — it is the ordinary condition of the food supply, and it is one of the reasons this farm exists.

We cannot change how the whole country grows food. We can build one farm where the answer to “what was sprayed on this?” is nothing, and where that claim is backed by how the place is built rather than by a promise.

0Pesticides & herbicides
~90%Less water than field growing
<24hFarm to kitchen
365Days of stable supply

[TODO: replace these with your own measured figures before go-live — water saving and lead time should be numbers you can defend if a chef or an auditor asks.]

our commitments

  1. 01

    No pesticides, at any stage

    Nothing is sprayed during the growing cycle. A short crop cycle in a controlled indoor environment removes most of the pest pressure that makes spraying feel necessary in the first place — so this is an engineering decision, not a sacrifice.

  2. 02

    Water used deliberately

    Growing under cover, on trays, with measured irrigation means we use a fraction of the water that open-field production needs for the same weight of produce. Runoff is captured rather than lost into the ground.

  3. 03

    Compostable growing media

    We grow on coconut coir — a by-product of Vietnam's own coconut industry — and on natural fibre matting. Spent media goes to compost instead of landfill.

  4. 04

    Short food miles

    We grow close to the kitchens we supply. Micro herbs and edible flowers are routinely air-freighted into this region; ours travel a few hours by road, which is better for the climate and much better for the product.

  5. 05

    Less packaging, and better packaging

    Living trays remove single-use packaging entirely. Where a punnet is needed we are moving to recycled and recyclable materials, and we take our own crates back and reuse them.

  6. 06

    Harvest to order, so little is wasted

    Because we cut against confirmed orders rather than growing to stock, very little of what we sow is thrown away. What does not go out is composted on site.

Growing indoors is the point

Controlling light, temperature, humidity and water is what lets us drop the chemicals — and produce the same quality in the rainy season as in the dry one.

from seed to kitchen

Six steps, all of them recorded

  1. 01

    Seed

    Sourced from suppliers we have vetted, stored cool and dry, and logged by lot so any tray can be traced back to the batch it came from.

  2. 02

    Sow

    Sown at a measured density onto clean coir. Density is recorded per crop — it is the single biggest driver of yield and of mould risk.

  3. 03

    Germinate

    Kept dark, warm and humid for the first days. No light until the seed leaves are ready for it.

  4. 04

    Grow

    Onto the racks under controlled light. Hours, temperature and humidity are set per variety and logged for every cycle.

  5. 05

    Harvest

    Cut against confirmed orders, on the day of delivery, with sanitised tools onto clean surfaces.

  6. 06

    Deliver

    Packed cool and moved to the kitchen within hours. Living trays go out uncut so the chef harvests them.

what we are still working on

The parts we have not solved yet

Indoor growing trades one problem for another: it uses less water and no pesticides, but it uses electricity for light and climate control. We are honest about that. Reducing energy per tray — better fixtures, tighter light schedules and, in time, solar on our own roof — is the biggest open item on our list.

We are also still working on packaging. Living trays are the right answer, but not every customer can take them, and the punnets that fill the gap are not yet where we want them to be.

We would rather tell you this than publish a page that claims everything is already solved.

Ask us anything about how we grow