We Couldn't Leave it to Salmon Else

What’s your favorite food to pair with beer? Call us crazy, but we’ve been experimenting with a salmon/beer pairing that we just can’t get enough of!

Goschie Farms was the first hop farm in the world to be certified as Salmon-Safe, and we’re proud that every single acre we farm today is grown to Salmon-Safe standards. Everybody wants clean, healthy water. When we learned how much impact that agriculture had on local watersheds, we jumped into action to farm in a way that would be more respectful toward those watersheds. Farming is a profession of full-circle moments: the inputs we utilize in our fields help us to produce high-quality crops, but also enter a wider system that impacts not just our ability to farm effectively in the future, but the health and wellbeing of the communities that we are a part of.

Particularly as water becomes ever more precious in the West, we’re eager to ensure that the inputs we’re utilizing will support the health of that water. We want to make sure that it will be around for us and our human (and aquatic) neighbors to continue to enjoy.

Salmon-Safe is a certification program that for years has been forming partnerships with companies across a range of industries in the Pacific Northwest which, in the course of their work, potentially impact the health of local watersheds. Little by little, Salmon-Safe and the organizations they partner with have been restoring and protecting this complicated ecosystem for the benefit of all.

By the time Salmon-Safe reaches the consumer, they may just see a small icon on a can of beer... but don’t let that fool you from underestimating how much hard work and passion went into earning that certification! To achieve Salmon-Safe status, Goschie Farms has:

• Created and protected buffer zones between our fields and local water sources

• Implemented innovative micro-irrigation techniques to reduce the amount of water we use

• Ensured that soil and sediment in our fields is not at risk of leaching into local water sources

• Reduced chemical usage overall by promoting beneficial insect populations

• Promoted areas of natural growth to protect those insect populations and improve soil health

We regularly welcome inspectors from Salmon-Safe onto our farm to inspect and observe our farming practices and ensure that we are continuing to operate our farm in a way that is beneficial toward our local underwater friends.

Gayle Goschie speaks with Jim Solberg of Indie Hops about Salmon-Safe Growing

You can learn more about Salmon-Safe certification and all the work that goes into it here (you can also catch a great video featuring Gayle and Goschie Farms on this page!).

Gayle Goschie discusses Salmon-Safe farming with IndieHops

If your favorite PNW food or beverage isn’t listed as Salmon-Safe yet, we would also encourage you to reach out to those producers and encourage them to look into the program for themselves! As an organization whose work is tied in so closely with the health of local watersheds, we’re proud to be at the forefront of working toward solutions and a better tomorrow in this area so we can all continue to share healthy water.