bold idea
Prevent social and environmental problems caused by burning rice straw waste in rural Vietnam by instead using the materials to build sustainable, prosperous mushroom farming communities.
organization overview
Fargreen is a social enterprise based in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the mission of building sustainable and prosperous green communities. Fargreen’s flagship product is its premium branded edible mushroom that is locally grown on a rice straw substrate—a medium that is currently considered waste. Fargreen’s production uses no pesticides, fertilizers, or chemicals, and uses potable water to grow the mushrooms. Fargreen offers consumers locally produced and healthy mushroom, rice, vegetable, and honey products from its closed-loop, no-waste production system while making a positive impact on the environment and on the lives of rural farmers. Fargreen is inspired by the cradle-to-cradle approach to build a business model in which no net waste is added in the whole production process. Fargreen sets up a network of farmers who, instead of burning their own rice straw after harvesting, collect the straw produce premium edible mushrooms in an eco-friendly closed-loop system. The leftover after mushroom cultivation is recycled to nourish the soil as bio-fertilizer for rice and vegetable crops, closing the production loop.
Personal Bio
A trailblazer, Trang was the first in her family to complete formal education, travel by air, and venture abroad. In 2014, she earned her MBA in Global Social and Sustainable Enterprises from Colorado State University (USA). Returning to Vietnam, she founded Fargreen Vietnam, an agricultural social enterprise fostering sustainable, climate-resilient farming communities and empowering rural women rice farmers. Trang’s innovative approach garnered recognition as a 2014 Echoing Green fellow and a 2015 TED fellow. Foreign Policy also named her a top 100 global thinker in 2015. In 2021, she co-founded Fargreen Global Initiative GmbH in Vienna, Austria, creating a diverse community bridging East and West. This initiative unites development efforts with a global alliance of women social entrepreneurs and creatives to sustainably address social changes, driven by Trang’s belief in the power of diverse communities joining hands to solve global problems. Currently based in Baku, Azerbaijan, Trang continues her impactful work.
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