The Shell Training Farms were established to help increase agricultural productivity by demonstrating to farmers the latest agricultural technologies and most sustainable practices in agriculture.

When the sugar industry experienced a steady decline in the 1980s, Negros Occidental farmers, being at the centre of sugar plantations, were most affected. PSFI saw the need to support and assist displaced sugar plantation workers and small farmers, resulting to the establishment of the first Shell Training Farm (STF) in Negros.

STF-Negros became a venue to provide opportunities for the upskilling and livelihood expansion of farmers, where they attended trainings to learn the latest technologies and techniques in farm planning, upland or lowland rice farming, corn production, backyard vegetable and herbal plants gardening, aquaculture, poultry, cattle fattening and swine raising, among many others. The operations and maintenance of the STF was sustained through revenues generated from selling farm produce such as bio-fertilizer, palay seeds, piglets, eggs and also through funds provided by PSFI coming from its interest income.

Seeing the significance this has brought to the agriculture sector, PSFI eventually established STFs in provinces around the country over the years with the help of various government and non-government institutions. Currently, PSFI agriculture experts spearheads the operations of STFs in Camarines Sur, Rizal and Palawan, while the farms in Negros and Benguet have been turned over to trusted local partners.