Tag Archive for: Biochar

Leading Agricultural Organizations Say Biochar Promise Can Be Realized When Government, Research, NGOs and Industry Come Together

American Farmland Trust, the National Center for Appropriate Technology and the U.S. Biochar Initiative today released Recommendations to Scale Up Sustainable Biochar Research and Commercialization for Agriculture and Conservation, which outlines actions to facilitate the development of a sustainable industry to supply biochar as a crop and grazing land amendment for farmers. Investment in research, production capacity, market mechanisms, outreach, and education will facilitate the broader application of biochar on farms and secure benefits for agriculture along with the delivery of renewable energy as a coproduct.  

In March 2022, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), NCAT and AFT hosted a two-day virtual event on biochar research and commercialization. Discussions reflected broad agreement that building a pyrolysis biochar and bioenergy industry is a promising near-term strategy for carbon removal. Sustainable fit-for-purpose biochar integrated in soil health management systems has potential to address climate change, build productivity and resilience of farms and forests, and create jobs and opportunity across rural America. Chuck Hassebrook, Director of NCAT’s Biochar Policy Project said, “There is great opportunity to build a biochar and biofuel industry that enhances soil health, sequesters carbon, improves farm and forest income, and creates jobs and opportunity across rural America. But federal investment in research and development is needed to unlock that opportunity.” 

Building a sustainable pyrolysis biochar bioenergy industry will require a coordinated, multi-faceted strategy. Supportive public policy is needed to prompt investment in production capacity and market development. Convening participants stressed that commercially relevant results are needed during the next five years. Rachel Seman-Varner, Senior Scientist at AFT said, “Current barriers limit the widespread production and use of biochar, and therefore the realization of the full potential climate adaptation and mitigation benefits of the practice. Key barriers can be addressed with a cross-agency, multi-stakeholder approach outlined with these recommendations.”  

This white paper presents four core policy recommendations derived from the convening.  

  • Coordinated Biochar Research Initiative – A coordinated research approach is recommended that includes cross-site and site-specific research to understand the interactions between various biochars, soils, crops, management, and weather as proposed in the Biochar Research Network Act introduced recently in Congress. 
  • Biochar Outreach, Extension and Education – In order to scale up biochar use, gaps in knowledge need to be filled by outreach, extension and education organizations to support farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange, on-farm demonstration trials, development of decision support tools, public-private partnerships to support biochar adoption, and knowledge transfer. 
  • Support of Commercialization of Biochar & Development of a Sustainable Biochar & Biofuel Industry – Developing a sustainable biochar biofuel industry will require strategic incentives and investments – we cannot wait for production and markets to align. 
  • Cross Agency Action Plan – This white paper outlines detailed recommendations for cross agency actions among USDA, DOE, EPA, and other agencies to address policy barriers to biochar adoption.  

Tom Miles, Executive Director of US Biochar Initiative said, “Biochars and biochar-amended products are being used productively in agriculture today. Improved outreach, government incentives, and long-term research are needed to stimulate investment, scale production, and validate long-term agronomic and environmental benefits.” 

We cannot wait 50 years to realize the potential of biochar. We present these policy recommendations to meet that challenge. 

To view the recorded convening and summary paper along with additional biochar resources, visit the convening webpage on AFT’s Farmland Information Center. 

American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 7 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on a half million additional acres and supported thousands of farm families. www.farmland.org

CONTACT: Lori Sallet, E: lsallet@farmland.org  ● P: (410) 708-5940  

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THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY has been helping people build resilient communities through local and sustainable solutions that reduce poverty, strengthen self-reliance, and protect natural resources since 1976. Headquartered in Butte, Montana, NCAT has field offices in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Learn more and become a friend of NCAT at NCAT.ORG

CONTACT: Emilie Ritter, E: emilier@ncat.org 

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US Biochar Initiative promotes the safe, stable, and sustainable production and us of biochar through research, policy, technology, and implementation. Join our network and the growing biochar industry to share findings and best practices that improve soil health and productivity while removing carbon from the atmosphere. 

CONTACT: John Webster E: info@biochar-us.org  ● P: (801) 870-2465 

Producers and Researchers Agree, Scale Up of a Sustainable Biochar Industry is Critical to Meet Climate Targets, and Build Agricultural Resilience and Soil Health

Today, on World Soil Day, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and American Farmland Trust (AFT) released Scaling Sustainable Biochar Research & Commercialization for Agriculture & Conservation: A Summary from a Stakeholder Convening that summarizes how sustainably produced and applied biochar will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change and build healthy high functioning soils. Additionally, the paper outlines research needs and gaps to scale up implementation and establish a pyrolysis biochar bioenergy industry.

Biochar is a charcoal-like substance made from pyrolyzing organic materials, such as agricultural and forest waste, often co-produced with renewable energy. Pyrolysis, the most common technology employed to produce biochar, converts organic materials under low-oxygen and high-temperature conditions (400 – 600ºC) into highly stable carbon compounds that remain in soils for hundreds to thousands of years. Biochar’s highly stabilized carbon-rich composition enables it to boost the benefits of other soil health practices, and to build productive, high functioning, resilient soils. Furthermore, biochar sequesters carbon in the long-term and reduces GHG emissions.

The paper is a summary of a March 2022 virtual convening event on biochar research and commercialization, hosted by FFAR, NCAT and AFT.

“This white paper demonstrates a clear need for coordinated efforts in both the public and private sectors and the creation of innovative partnerships to resolve the research and innovation gaps that have limited the widespread application of biochar to agricultural soils,” said LaKisha Odom, Ph.D., FFAR soil health scientific program director. “I am especially excited about the research roadmap and collaboration opportunities that are possible.”

“Biochar, together with its biofuel coproduct, has great potential to build healthy soils, strengthen rural economies and remove carbon from the atmosphere,” said Steve Thompson, NCAT executive director. “But that potential will be realized only with concerted action to close knowledge gaps, develop markets and implement supportive policy. The convening and this report point the way.”

“A coordinated effort is needed to resolve the research, development and policy gaps that have limited the widespread adoption of sustainable, fit-for-purpose biochar amendments for diverse agricultural soils,” said Rachel Seman-Varner Ph.D., AFT senior soil health and biochar scientist of AFT’s Climate Initiative. “The convening event and this white paper brought together scientific, industry and policy experts to identify gaps that need to be addressed to move this practice forward as a synergistic tool in the soil health and climate-smart toolbox.”

The paper also supports the use of sustainably sourced organic waste products and outlines the potential to include bioenergy crops to simultaneously generate biofuels and biochar for application to farm, ranch, and forest lands. Recordings of the convening event and the paper are also available on the Farmland Information Center page, Convening on Biochar Research and Commercialization. A companion paper that summarizes research, stakeholder action, and policy recommendations for a coordinated strategy to support a pyrolysis biochar bioenergy industry will be released by AFT and NCAT in early 2023.

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About the American Farmland Trust (AFT)  

American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.     

CONTACT: Lori Sallet, E: lsallet@farmland.org ● P: (410) 708-5940

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About the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR)  

FFAR builds public-private partnerships to multiply the U.S.’s public research investment and accelerate actionable solutions to urgent food and agriculture challenges. FFAR’s Soil Health Challenge Area has interest in biochar due to the importance of carbon drawdown, the imminence of time and the need to address knowledge gaps, as well as the need for implementation and scale in the biochar space. FFAR is interested in developing coordinated funding opportunities to support near-term technology development for biochar.  

CONTACT:  Michelle Olgers, E: molgers@foundationfar.org ● P: (804) 304-4200

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About the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)  

The National Center for Appropriate Technology has been helping people build resilient communities through local and sustainable solutions that reduce poverty, strengthen self-reliance, and protect natural resources since 1976. Headquartered in Butte, Montana, NCAT has field offices in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Learn more and become a friend of NCAT at NCAT.ORG. 

CONTACT: Emilie Ritter, Director of Communications and Development, emilier@ncat.org

Biochar Policy Project Aims to Scale Up Rural Climate Solution

By Steve Thompson, NCAT Executive Director

Dave Atkins, a forest landowner in Montana’s Blackfoot Valley, peers through the smoke-filled gloom of another hot and dry August, and he sees hope on the horizon. He’s part of a collaborative project with other small landowners, federal land agencies, conservation and watershed groups that thinks that an important solution can be found in a porous black shred of carbon called biochar.
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