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Since 2018, one Alberta-based company has been working with craft breweries in Calgary to prevent spent grain from ending up in landfills or being under utilized at composting facilities.
Instead, aGRO Systems which was founded by Victoria Ross takes that grain and provides it to local ranchers as a protein rich feed additive for livestock.“Spent grain itself in its wet form is only like five to six per cent crude protein,” explained Ross. “But if you dry it down to its whole form, then it would be about 25 per cent crude protein, whereas most cattle are for instance finished on 12 to 13 per cent.”As a way to reduce waste and costs associated with ranching, Ross was inspired by her father John Ross, who, in order to keep their own ranch afloat, took on a second job to make ends meet. “When I started working on the original concept of aGRO back in university, I actually was really alarmed to learn that nearly 50 per cent of Canadian farmers need an off-farm job,” Ross said. “So wanting to find different products, services, methods of farming and ranching, collaborating that would allow these farmers and ranchers to eliminate the necessity of that job.”
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88 Brewing is one of the 33 Calgary-based breweries aGRO Systems works with. Since the beginning, Brendan Barnett says the idea of reducing their carbon footprint by working with Ross was a no-brainer.
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“It’s been amazing for us,” said Barnett. “It’s kind of rare that you get 100-per cent win-win. Where it’s not really even a business partnership, she (Ross) just helps us, and we help her, and it’s totally synergistic.”
In 2024, aGRO Systems ensured more than seven million pounds of spent grain didn’t end up in landfills or compost facilities, 660,000 pounds of which was comprised by 88 Brewing — bringing the overall total to more than 50 million pounds since they began in June of 2018.In the future, Ross hopes to expand the benefits of their work for farmers and ranchers by further reducing costs associated with bringing their products to Alberta consumers.“We’re hoping within the next two years to have what we’re gonna call the ‘Little Farm Store’,” Ross said. “So every farmer and rancher that’s been working in our network, we’re gonna try and give them a channel to actually sell their products.” For breweries and agriculture producers in other parts of the province who wish they could access the services aGRO Systems provide, they’re in luck. Ross hopes to offer their services to breweries and ranchers in and around Edmonton this summer.
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