Planning Proposal: Exploiting brewery waste for soil management in organic agriculture

This project will identify technology that can be employed to exploit brewery wastes for organic soil management. Input gathered from practitioners in the brewery industry and organic agriculture will inform the development of a multi-year plan for research and curriculum development that meets specific needs for advancing organic production. A diverse group of stakeholders, including farmers, brewery owners, university and extension educators, and researchers, will engage in workshops designed to resolve the potential for processed brewery waste to be used as a soil amendment in organic agriculture. Outcomes of the workshops will identify gaps in knowledge about the effect of brewery waste application to soils, and curricular needs for training the next generation workforce for organic agriculture.Specific objectives are to:Identify stakeholder interest in developing closed-loop systems for brewery waste management that meets organic certification standards.Identify farmers that already use organic practices in the region that would pursue certification if subsidized (financially and/or with regulatory consultation).Summarize reports from group meetings and apply outcomes to a multi-year plan based onthe potential of brewery waste and digestate for organic agriculture,the gaps in knowledge that must be filled to advance practices that exploit this potential, andcurricular gaps that must be filled to meet training needs of the organic agriculture workforce.