{"id":1416,"date":"2026-07-28T11:56:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T02:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/industry_news\/lamdong-dwarf-coffee\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:42:20","slug":"lamdong-dwarf-coffee","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/lamdong-dwarf-coffee\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lam Dong farmer replants an aging Robusta garden with the dwarf variety Xanh lun over three years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mai Hong Quan, a farmer in Nam Nung, Lam Dong province, is spending three years replanting an aging coffee garden with the dwarf variety \"Xanh lun\" (green dwarf). Those around him urged high-yielding varieties, but he did not rush; he made the full switch only after judging the growth of trees he had planted on a trial basis. Unlike short-cycle crops, with coffee, choosing the wrong variety means accepting losses on a scale of decades<\/strong>. For Japanese roasters, this is a story about how the variety planted now determines the quality of Vietnamese Robusta available 10 and 20 years from now.<\/p>\n

He made the full switch only after observing about 1,000 trees for more than a year<\/h2>\n

Mr. Quan first planted about 1,000 Xanh lun trees and spent more than a year confirming their growth stability, tree form and uniformity. Once satisfied, he added 1,200 trees, and now plans to plant about 1,800 more, bringing the total to roughly 4,000 trees on about 2 ha. Dwarf varieties are short, which keeps harvesting and management easier. The standard planting density is over 2,000 trees per ha, and at maturity a green-bean yield of 7-8 tonnes per ha is said to be in prospect. Not jumping at a high-yielding variety but testing small first to confirm: this order pays off in replanting that shapes decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Stage<\/th>\nNumber of trees planted<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
First round (3 years ago)<\/td>\nAbout 1,000 trees<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Second round<\/td>\nAbout 1,200 bottles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Third round (planned)<\/td>\nAbout 1,800 trees<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/td>\nAbout 4,000 trees (about 2 ha)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Coffee cannot be resown the next season, so variety selection locks in the entire cycle<\/h2>\n

Once planted, a coffee tree keeps yielding for decades. Put the other way, if the first variety choice is wrong, that mistake is locked in until the tree's lifespan runs out. The expert Dr. Phan Viet Ha points out that variety choice determines coffee's production efficiency across the entire cycle. A short-cycle crop can be resown the next season, but coffee cannot. The decision to switch an aged crop to a different one is not rare in Lam Dong, and cases of converting aging dragon fruit fields to passion fruit are emerging (Passion fruit on aging dragon fruit fields: does grade-based purchasing work for procurement?<\/a>). But coffee replanting, precisely because its decisions are so low in reversibility, makes variety selection weigh all the more. Across Lam Dong, the home of Robusta, the question of \"which variety to run the next 30 years on\" is arising all at once during the renewal period of aging gardens, and the difference between farmers rushing for high yields and farmers like Mr. Quan who build in a period of observation will show up, years later, as variation in bean quality across the whole origin.<\/p>\n

The generational turnover of varieties does not appear on a price list; track it as a change in the quality of supply<\/h2>\n

Vietnam is the world's largest Robusta origin and provides the base of the blend for Japanese roasters. The replanting now advancing in various regions is quietly determining the future quality and volume of Robusta. The switch to dwarf varieties can underpin stable supply through improved harvest efficiency and manageability. The more a buyer wants to secure the same quality of Robusta over the medium to long term, the more it is worth watching which variety an origin is renewing with, rather than the near-term market price. The generational turnover of varieties is a change in the quality of supply that does not appear on a price list<\/strong>. In the highlands, moves to convert maize fields to Arabica are also advancing in various places (Cornfields turn to Arabica\u2014the Son La highlands open a sourcing destination for beans and fruit<\/a>), and roasters who go after information on an origin's replanting trends with the same energy they put into unit-price negotiation will pull ahead a few years from now.<\/p>\n

Dwarf varieties, through labor savings and quality uniformity, influence even roasting reproducibility<\/h2>\n

Replanting entails several non-harvest years, and if renewal periods overlap across an entire origin, there can be phases where supply temporarily tightens. Meanwhile, moves to make use of the coffee branches and leaves that have been discarded, treating them as a resource, are also emerging (Coffee branches and leaves that were to be thrown away become a resource: the business opportunity opened by Vietnamese coffee's decarbonization<\/a>), and variety renewal is advancing as a restructuring of the origin's very production structure. Short dwarf varieties suit mechanization and labor savings, making it easier to keep harvesting even in aging origins. In addition, a variety with uniform tree form gives beans of uniform ripeness and grain size from the same garden, leading to uniform quality in the processing stage. When the beans are uniform, the roasting design on the roaster's side also stabilizes. Variety selection may look like the producer's problem alone, but its effects reach all the way to the buyer's concern of roasting reproducibility.<\/p>\n

Ask your main supplier about the main variety, the progress of replanting, and the plan for the non-harvest period<\/h2>\n

In dealings with an origin, the first things to confirm are the main variety and the progress of renewal. Grasping the share of aging gardens, the area under replanting, and the status of introducing new varieties such as dwarfs lets you read the supply picture a few years out. Along with that, it is worth asking how the non-harvest period will be bridged (the plan for running it alongside existing gardens). Rather than a single-year contract, building a multi-year relationship that anticipates the renewal cycle brings real benefit in this origin. Pushing further into the origin's age structure and its labor supply lets you read even the continuity of supply.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h2>\n