Helping BeerLao farm rice more sustainably

To reach our ZERO Farming Footprint goal, we are taking steps to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices. 

At our Laos business, Lao Brewery Company (known as BeerLao), we are making great progress with a project that grows rice using farming methods that are striving to meet the classification of “regenerative”. 

Through adopting more sustainable practices, like alternative wetting and drying, which allows rice paddies to dry before reirrigation, the project harvested more than 600 tonnes of rice in 2024. It also expanded to over 330 hectares in 2024, up from 100 hectares the previous year. It now covers three districts around Vientiane. Lao Brewery Company has also allocated three hectares for rice field ridges to pilot the one stem seed method where pre-germinated seeds are sown into puddled soil, reducing water usage and soil damage.

As part of the project, 30 tonnes of biological fertiliser was applied to improve the soil and barriers were built to prevent contamination from neighbouring fields. The project follows the Department of Agriculture’s clean agriculture standards, and everything harvested is used as raw materials for brewing. The project will continue to grow in coming years and expand the amount of land dedicated to these farming practices.