Sustainability Programs
For the Coleman family, farming has always been more than a livelihood - it’s a way of life.
It’s a way of cultivating family and community while providing for the future and the present.
That’s why we use sustainable farming practices and partner with conservation-minded folks to fulfill our purpose of leaving the farm better than we received it. We are proud to partner with groups such as Oregon Wild’s Oregon Brewshed Alliance, and the National Resource Conservation Service. We believe that by combining hundreds of years of traditional farming know-how with modern sustainable methods, we can utilize the land in a way that best serves us all.
Here at Coleman Ag, we are dedicated to transforming land management practices to maintain a more sustainable and ecological farming operation.
Salmon-Safe
The Salmon-Safe certification program follows water quality and habitat conservation practices to reduce watershed impacts on fish. This program works to implement farming practices that protect water quality, maintain watershed health, and restore habitat.
Green Chief®
Green Chief® is a farm quality and sustainability management program created by Yakima Chief Hops. This qualification helps achieve long-term goals in day-to-day farm operations. We work with this program to practice environmentally conscious and social responsibility solutions that ensure the delivery of clean, pure, safe hops of the highest quality.
Cover Crops
We plant cover crops such as barley, clover, perennial grasses, and taproot plants in between our hop rows in the off-season. This helps to reduce our carbon footprint by eliminating excess cultivation, provides nitrogen for the soil, creates natural weed control, prevents soil erosion, increases organic matter to the soil, reduces water runoff, and provides a habitat for beneficial insects. The taproots, such as radish, allow for no tilling. This helps us avoid disturbing microbial communities in the soil.
Drip Irrigation
Drip irrigation helps improve plant health and water conservation while also saving our farm millions of gallons of water a year. By utilizing drip irrigation, we are helping to reduce the amount of runoff entering our waterways and leaching into the ground water. By switching from big gun irrigation to drip, we can now direct the water to the root zone and save up to 20 percent of the water that would have evaporated.
Terroir Study
This study has helped guide our strategic crop decision making, with irrigation and soil chemistry management, by utilizing a detailed level of scientific data not yet used by Oregon hop growers. With this information, we also have a greater understanding of the story of our soils and have the ability to manage the soil with our very best practices and ensure the land for generations to come.
Biodiversity
Planting wildflowers around our hop yards provide a home for beneficial insects such as ladybugs and bees. Not only do these flowers provide a home for pollinators and valuable insects, but they also increase soil health and prevent erosion.
Integrated Pest Management
By working with companies dealing in biological systems, we practice preventive releases of natural enemies. Releasing predatory mites aid in bolstering our efforts toward biodiversity and healthy farming.
Soil Moisture Sensors
Responsible, efficient and smart irrigation is an integral part of our core values. We use soil moisture sensors to accurately provide irrigation data to our field managers, which decreases unnecessary water use and allows them to remotely activate or deactivate irrigation pumps. Additionally, weather stations that predict microclimate changes have been added to the mix, which allows managers to decide precisely how much water to use.
MeasureTek
By launching MeasureTek at our Homeplace and Alluvial farms, we’ve been able to standardize our hop drying process. The sensors installed in the hop kiln floors gauge and record the weight of the hops during drying and automatically adjusts the heat and air going into each individual kiln floor. This allows us to reduce inputs and maximize consistency. Using this technology in conjunction with propane-fueled burners, we reduce our carbon footprint while providing consistent moisture control for higher quality hops.
Advanced Eco-Agriculture
Through multiple trials, we have been implementing advanced eco-agriculture into our farming practices. This program utilizes organic based products, including many ocean-based products, to give plants natural tools to fight off insects and disease. Trials and programs like this allow us to continue working towards environmentally friendly farming.