“A plant biology graduate student at Ohio University is using spent grains from the Jackie O’s brewing process to grow plants as a part of his final research project,” reports the June 18 Athens News.
If grad student Josh Crosier’s current hunch about the spent grains is correct, the research project for his master’s degree could benefit farmers in the area looking for a new protein-rich source of organic compost.
Crosier said compost made from spent grains could go a long way toward keeping the materials used in local farming within Athens County. “We’re using a resource locally found here in Athens County to help Athens County farmers,” he said. “I don’t want to see people shipping in nutrients from Missouri, or the carbon footprint associated with that.”
Crosier, who owns his own landscaping business, started his experiment last year at OU’s West State Gardens—a research area near the OU driving range for student and faculty usage. He struck a deal with Jackie O’s to use its brewery’s unwanted spent rye, hops and wheat in exchange for some regular lawn work. He piles them, wet, into the back of his truck after brew cycles and slops them out at the gardens with a shovel. They smell like spoiled meat….
“The plots with the spent grains didn’t do as good as the control plots, so that’s where the discussion on my thesis gets kind of complicated,” Crosier said.
Then, this year Crosier got some advice from his mentor, Arthur Trese, an associate professor of plant biology at OU, who teaches a sustainable agriculture course at the West State gardens. Trese suggested Crosier mix the grains on top of the soil— without the composting process.
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