Western couple earns nearly half a billion VND each year from straw mushrooms

Dong Thap After many failed startups, Lam Thai Duong and his wife were not discouraged and switched to growing straw mushrooms indoors, earning a profit of 400-500 million VND per year.

Mr. Duong (35 years old) and his wife, Ms. Le Ho Thuy Linh, both graduated from university in Ho Chi Minh City. In early 2013, they pooled 30 million VND from their part-time jobs with a group of friends to start growing clean vegetables.

Green Farm - the model name at that time with the orientation of growing vegetables on substrates and providing home vegetable care services for families in Ho Chi Minh City. Growing organic vegetables, catching worms by hand, the group expected the model to quickly recover capital and make a profit. However, the youthful enthusiasm was soon "slapped awake" by reality when the income was not enough to cover expenses.

Lam Thai Duong and his wife found a process for growing mushrooms in a wall house in Tan Hong district, Dong Thap province. Photo: Ngoc Tai — Lam Thai Duong and his wife succeeded in growing straw mushrooms after 4 starts. Photo: *Ngoc Tai*

A year later, the startup group "disbanded". Duong and his wife switched to working for hire, buying and selling fresh flowers. When they had some extra capital, they continued to grow vegetables, but once again failed. Seeing that work in the city was difficult, the couple packed up and returned to their hometown in Tan Hong district (Dong Thap).

Returning to their hometown during the rice harvest season, the two tried growing straw mushrooms using the knowledge they had learned. With 25 rolls of straw as start-up capital from their family, Duong chose 11 rolls to incubate first and stacked them on a bamboo shelf of about 3 square meters. Exactly half a month later, in theory the straw mushrooms would grow, but upon inspection, the straw was dry and hard, without a single mushroom.

Frustrated, Duong took down the shelves, chopped them into firewood for his wife to cook rice, and left the straw piles lying around in the corner of the garden. However, 10 days later, these straw piles grew mushrooms profusely, and they harvested 4 kg. From then on, instead of incubating them on the shelves, they built a small hut and incubated the remaining 14 rolls of straw. Due to lack of technique, mushrooms grew a lot, and they harvested 39 kg, but the mushrooms were ugly, black as coal, and few people bought them.

The young couple used half of the money to buy iron to weld into shelves, the rest to buy hats, and built a greenhouse to grow mushrooms. They raised one iron shelf to two shelves with the money they earned. While working and studying, they traveled all over the mushroom growing regions of the West to gain experience.

Mr. Duong realized that the outdoor mushroom growing process of farmers was still precarious, still having to "fear the harsh sun, avoid the pouring rain". From the experience he learned, combined with knowledge from the classroom, he researched, found scientific solutions, and summarized them into a process.

From one mushroom greenhouse, they increased it to 4, 14, then 24 houses and discovered that each house had a different "personality": The house at the beginning of the row received too much sunlight and was too hot, the house under the shade of a tree had too much humidity, the house right next to the wind had dry straw... To ensure a consistent growing process, each Duong mushroom house had to change its design accordingly.

Lam Thai Duong's mushroom growing shelf (outside) in the 15 m2 room has begun to grow baby mushrooms. Photo: Ngoc Tai — The growing shelf in the 15 m2 room has started to grow baby mushrooms. Photo: *Ngoc Tai*

Drawing on practical experience, they have a firmer grasp of the mushroom growing process. The couple records everything precisely, from the straw composting formula, input materials, time, and harvest quantity. After each crop, the couple compiles data and looks for reasons that change productivity.

"Once, mice entered the house and turned the composted straw shelves upside down. Unexpectedly, that crop yield increased dramatically. We discovered that the mice helped the straw fibers break down, making it more airy, making it easier for mushrooms to grow," Duong said. He added that the next crop he learned the mice's movements, using a stick to both hit and lightly turn the straw beds, and was successful.

After 5 years of starting a mushroom growing business, the number of greenhouses of Duong and his wife has increased. They have used almost all of their profit of about 600 million VND for research, repair and investment in greenhouses. In March this year, they asked their family for a 2,000 m2 plot of land to build a solid row of rooms to grow mushrooms with the advantage of easy control of environmental parameters and longer use of the greenhouse.

Each mushroom growing room is 15 square meters wide, built of bricks and plastered with cement. The room is isolated from the outside environment, with a ventilation fan to circulate hot air outside, and the temperature inside is controlled at 37 degrees Celsius. "The most important thing in growing straw mushrooms is the correct temperature and humidity. Following the process, each batch of mushrooms will produce the right quantity and consistent quality," he shared.

Each mushroom crop at the farm usually lasts about 30 days with the following stages: straw incubation, rooming, steam sterilization, seeding, silk incubation, silk discharge, care and harvesting. According to the young couple, the most difficult step in mushroom production is processing the input straw.

Mr. Duong also monitors the intensive farming habits of rice field owners, clean straw or straw with some chemical residues to handle appropriately, helping mushrooms grow well. Before putting it into the composting process, he uses lime to "detoxify" the straw, combined with steam sterilization, the straw meets the clean requirements for production.

Bring the fermented mushrooms into the room, each crop usually lasts 30 days, rotating 8-12 crops a year. Photo: Ngoc Tai — Bring the fermented mushrooms into the room. Photo: *Ngoc Tai*

According to calculations, each room can rotate 8-12 crops per year, harvesting 30-35 kg of mushrooms per crop. When operating at full capacity, the farm owner harvests 1.4 - 1.8 tons of mushrooms per month, with a revenue of 70-80 million VND. After deducting costs and workers' salaries, Duong and his wife earn a profit of 35-40 million VND, 2-3 times higher than the traditional farming method.

"It took us 6 years to break even on the investment in the grow house and 14 years later to make a profit," the mushroom farm owner explained, concluding that after nearly 10 years of arduous start-up, he and his wife have never regretted it. Because each stage, even though failed, helps them learn a lesson to move forward.

With initial success, they plan to transfer the process to farmers in need, signing contracts to purchase and process mushrooms on an industrial scale. Both hope that each district in the province will have at least one mushroom house. This will help farmers earn more income from straw by-products, without having to burn them, which is wasteful.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Ngoc, Secretary of Tan Hong District, commented that Mr. Duong's indoor straw mushroom growing model is suitable for local advantages, taking advantage of straw by-products. The model, if replicated, will help people earn more income from rice cultivation. In the near future, the district will support farm owners in building brands and registering for local OCOP certification - one product per commune.

Ngoc Tai

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