U of I, Anheuser-Busch partner on sustainability research at large Idaho hops farmAnheuser-Busch’s Elk Mountain Farms, located near Bonners Fe...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
Anheuser-Busch’s Elk Mountain Farms, located near Bonners Ferry, is renowned for its size — with 1,700 acres under trellis, it’s the world’s largest contiguous hops farm.
Elk Mountain’s operators are beginning the second year of working with researchers from University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) to earn a new distinction — as trailblazers in innovative, sustainable production practices.
Last summer, Elk Mountain tested U of I’s patented technology to treat shallow groundwater beneath their property and recover phosphorus. In the environment, phosphorus within a watershed may leach into surface waters and can contribute to algal blooms that deplete waterbodies of dissolved oxygen.
Researchers used iron and biochar in a flow-through filter to treat the groundwater. The recovered nutrient-enriched biochar is being tested as a soils amendment to nourish and fertilize hops plants on the farm.
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Taxonomy
- Groundwater
- Groundwater Pollution
- Phosphorus Recovery
- Biochar