The story at Van der Maas Farm - Dang

Recently, Vietnamese people in Europe, especially in the Netherlands and Belgium, have started frequenting Vietnam Corner to inquire about and purchase ST rice, lychees, coconuts, dragon fruit, jackfruit, fish sauce, and other Vietnamese products. This online Vietnamese shop is actually run by a Dutch farm: the Van der Maas dairy farm in southern Zealand.

Linh Dang (right) and her partners distributing Vietnamese goods in Europe.

Unlike romantic fairy tales where a princess falls onto a farm and instantly becomes a milkmaid, Ms. Linh Dang recalls: "I met my husband while studying business administration in the Netherlands, and he instilled in me a love for farming. Whenever I mentioned raising cows, his eyes would light up. He said farming is constantly dependent on nature; you can't get discouraged by a rainstorm or typhoon. So I started working as a porter and cleaner on a cow farm, learning each small task, meeting each customer to gain experience. Around me, there were people who invested millions of euros in their farms and still worked like real farmers because they loved the profession. Therefore, when I started my own business again, I found packing, loading, and delivering goods to be perfectly normal. It gave me the opportunity to interact with customers and learn how to estimate costs and time for each specific task."

Previously, Linh Dang worked as a financial supervisor for a small company in the Netherlands. After seven years, finding the job less appealing, she quit, wanting to dedicate her time to building Vietnam Corner. However, her husband often sternly reminded her of the hardships of farming, as he himself had studied agricultural economics before deciding to return to farming. But what her husband said was one thing; Linh herself is still moved when recalling memories of her father-in-law, a Dutch farmer who left a special inheritance for his daughter-in-law. She recounted: "My father-in-law's family already had a fruit farm, but because he loved cows, he and his wife started over with a cow. There's an image of him that keeps recurring in my mind. It's an old man, over 70 years old, who had lost a leg, getting up at 5 a.m. to go to the farm. He only brought a loaf of bread for lunch so he could quickly drive the tractor to harvest grass. He wouldn't return until late at night, his face sparkling with the joy of an old farmer, yet still sowing the seeds of youth in his fields." As for my mother-in-law, no matter how hard the farm work is, she still maintains the habit of reading books and watching the morning news. It is these images and feelings that help me feel like I belong here.

Linh Dang and her journey in distributing Vietnamese goods in Europe. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.

That commitment wasn't one-sided. Linh's husband knew she still harbored the dream of opening a supermarket or an online Asian retail system, so even when Linh invested her capital in a cattle farm with him, he encouraged her to pursue her dream. Nearly a year ago, she and a friend opened a company distributing Asian food products, including many Vietnamese items. To date, Vietnam Corner distributes approximately 600 products through official and unofficial channels. Many customers from the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and other countries have found Vietnam Corner online to buy Vietnamese chili sauce and seafood dipping sauces.

Linh hopes that in the next three years, she will build a strong enough retail channel to meet customer demand more quickly and in greater quantities, better catering to individual tastes. Besides distributing Mova products through official channels to ensure European quality, Linh and her husband are planning to invest in a new warehouse system including chilled and frozen storage, and refrigerated transport vehicles to ensure food safety.

This investment also requires perseverance and sustainability, just like how Linh and her husband are investing in the health of each cow. “The Netherlands has very strict agricultural laws, requiring annual reports on the percentage of sick cows, milk yield, etc. My farm has 145 dairy cows, 150 growing calves, and beef cattle. We have 21 hectares, and we have to rent an additional 40 hectares to ensure enough feed for the cows. Sustainable development of a cattle farm in the Netherlands also includes providing the herd with a comfortable life, such as allowing them to go outside in the spring and summer, investing in environmentally friendly energy sources like solar and wind power, and cooperating with natural land management units to allow the cows to graze in these areas,” Linh explained.

KIEU HUONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/chuyen-o-nong-trai-van-der-maas-dang-post803561.html