If you've recently bought a beer brewed by the Howe Sound Brewing Co., you may not have thought you were being particularly "green," but because of an enterprising business arrangement, you were an unwitting supporter of local cruelty-free farming.
Brewed in Squamish since 1996, the Howe Sound Brewing Co.'s award-winning beer draws its sugars and flavours from grain that is added to hot water in the first step of the beer-making process.
A thousand litres at a time is stirred and when the liquid is transferred out into a brewing kettle after an hour, a product called "spent" grain is left over - usually about 50 pounds per batch.
"We originally were having it just taken away by a waste management company," said Trevor Magee, general manager for the Howe Sound Brewing Co. "They were just putting it into a landfill."
With the brewery receiving anywhere from 500 to 2,500 pounds of grain - mostly from the Prairies and the Pacific Northwest - each week, Magee decided to source out a local farm to help reduce the cost and environmental impact related to the spent grain.
Since 2003, Glacier Valley Farm in the Squamish Valley has been owned and operated by local farmers Steve Moir and Cory Balano. It provides eggs, chicken, pork and lamb to people in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
"So then we established this relationship with Glacier Valley Farm whereby they came and picked up the grain for livestock feed and to also spread on their fields," said Magee. "Lots of breweries have been doing this for some time in various communities in North America, so we've known about that opportunity - it was just a matter of finding the right farm."
The donation of spent grain to Glacier Valley began in December 2009 using the blue recycling bins supplied by Carney's to the Brew Pub. In June 2010, Glacier Valley replaced the Carney's bins with its own and Magee said the volume increased so much that he's had to start paying the farm to take it away; however, the reduction in cost compared to shipping it to a landfill continues to be significant.
"And secondly, we feel better knowing that the grain's not just going into a landfill," he said, "that it's going to be used as feed or as fertilization."
"The livestock is getting gourmet grain."
Certified organic grain from In-Season Farms in Abbotsford is used as the primary feed for the livestock at Glacier Valley. While not organic, the spent grain is used on the farm as supplement feed because of other benefits that still make it a valuable product.
"We pick up the bins every couple of days when it's steaming hot," Moir said. "The hot bins are what we feed and anything that's cold or has sat for a couple of days, we compost."
"We feel that's the best of both worlds and that we're utilizing what would be a waste product and converting it into food," he said. "There is no such thing as GMO (genetically modified) barley, and the sugars have been removed from it, which is good for our animals. They're getting the protein."
"Our endeavour is to feed people that live in and around the Squamish area, so certified organic isn't really high on our priority list like the way we raise our animals."
Glacier Valley Farm's ethically raised, free-range products can be purchased directly from the farm or from a number of locations around Squamish including The Cup, Kitchen Quickies, Nesters, Gelato Carina and the Brackendale General Store.
Although supplying local restaurants is appealing, Moir said he just can't compete with the big food wholesale suppliers.
"We're going to try this summer with chickens," he said, "but we're just not of a size yet where we can reliably or consistently provide restaurants with meat year round."
With the Howe Sound Brew Pub having just placed its first order with the farm for chickens, eggs and mushrooms to be featured on the menu for the Earth Hour event on March 26, both Magee and Moir agree there is potential in Squamish for more farmers to get involved.
"As we're a fairly large business in Squamish here, we're always looking for ways to increase the efficiency of our business and obviously reduce costs and certainly looking at the environmental impact our business has," said Magee. "If there are services, suppliers and vendors in the community that can help us in achieving those types of criteria, then we're all for it."
According to Moir, there is more room for farmers and "in an organized fashion, I think there's room for more people to utilize that grain.
"By no stretch of the imagination can we provide all restaurants with local food," he said. "It's an open invitation for anyone to start farming. Come in and start up."
