Against the grain

Welch joins Alchemist owners in Waterbury to object to proposed FDA rule

Normally it’s thirsty beer drinkers lusting after The Alchemist’s highly coveted craft brews, but it turns out livestock is just as excited to be part of the Heady Topper herd.

The spent grain byproduct of the Waterbury-based brewery’s flagship beer provides highly nutritious and delicious feed for a couple of hundred cows at Hadley Gaylord’s Waitsfield farm.

“They love the beginning of Heady Topper. They come running for it,” Gaylord said at a press conference outside the Alchemist Wednesday afternoon, May 14. “It literally must be like candy to them. They just come running when they see me and when they hear the truck.”

Gaylord joined U.S. Rep. Peter Welch and Alchemist co-owners Jen and John Kimmich in unveiling a bipartisan effort to block a proposed Food and Drug Administration rule that threatens the longstanding tradition of breweries providing grain byproducts to farmers as feed for livestock.

The Vermont tradition can be traced back to the late 18th century and the farmlands of Mount Vernon, where George Washington fed his livestock with spent grain after making batches of whiskey and beer.

Welch said the tradition has helped form a centuries-old “symbiotic relationship” that benefits both brewers and farmers.

This is true of the Gaylord-Kimmich connection.

Instead of facing feed fees of between $400 and $500 a ton to provide for his herds, Gaylord gets the grain for free from the Kimmichs. In turn, the Alchemist owners avoid paying costly disposal fees.

But their happy, hoppy bond is in danger of coming to an end due to federal regulations.

Since 2011, when the Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law, the FDA has been responsible for administering the act’s regulations, Welch explained.

“And, in the administration of this act, the FDA has come up with a pretty crackpot idea,” he said. “They’ve got a solution in search of a problem.”

If the FDA has its way, Welch said, the spent grain could end up being dumped in landfills or composted at a significant cost to brewers.

Under the rule, breweries that provide feed for livestock would be designated as food producers and would be subject to heightened regulations. Brewers would be required to keep tedious records and adhere to stringent testing and processing requirements.

Welch said brewers would be required to undertake a costly process of drying and prepackaging spent grain before it could be made available as feed.

“The question I have is, if it was good enough for George and Martha Washington, why isn’t it good enough for John and Jen Kimmich?” he said. “This will have a really bad impact on their production.”

Mutually beneficial

John Kimmich said the relationship between brewer and farmer started in the Green Mountain State with the Catamount Brewery and Vermont Pub and Brewery operations, which similarly shared their spent grains with farmers.

It’s a “very environmental way of dealing with this byproduct of the brewing process,” he said.

“It’s quite common to hear from these farmers that when they start receiving this high-quality feed that they actually increase their herd size and their bottom line goes up,” he added. “The rising tide lifts all ships. And we really look at it that way.”

Kimmich said the brewery uses about 28,000 pounds of grains during the production process and would never think of charging farmers for the byproduct.

“We’re just concerned with finding a responsible way to get rid of this stuff,” he said. “And if we can help (the farmers) out in such a benign way, it’s perfect for us.”

Gaylord said the spent grain especially helps the female cows that spend all year outdoors. The grain provides for bigger, stronger animals.

“Their body condition is entirely different than it used to be,” he said. “This stuff gives them a better flesh tone, their overall body condition is better.”

The Heady grains make for happier cows that produce better milk to feed calves that grow at an “unbelievable rate,” Gaylord said.

Bipartisan efforts

Welch, who learned about the regulation issues after stopping by the brewery a couple of months ago, said he’s taken steps to prevent the proposed rule changes from occurring.

He’s circulated a letter signed by 54 House colleagues representing both parties “urging the FDA to get real.”

He’s also introduced bipartisan legislation designed to exempt breweries and distilleries from the regulations.

“This is going to be an all-out effort on the parts of Republicans and Democrats in Congress to make certain the FDA is not overstepping its bounds and doing something that’s really bad for beer and really bad for cattle and pigs,” he said.

Kimmich said he and his wife have been encouraged by the “groundswell of support” coming from bipartisan sides.

“It’s nice. Maybe we have to get more beer in Congress and get more things accomplished,” he said.