Over the next two years researchers and farmers in Missouri will be part of a nationwide effort to see how one organic farming technique can be used at large scales. They want to help farmers turn waste wood and plants into a soil amendment called biochar, more importantly they want to see how well it works.
The USDA recently added biochar to a list of climate friendly practices. A program managed by Missouri Organic Association and funded by the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities will allow MOA to work with farmers to make, use and test biochar and answer core questions about best use. They want to know how best it can be made and used effectively on large scales on working farms, and what value it can add to the produce it helps grow.
Biochar is produced by heating organic matter in a low oxygen environment, essentially preventing it from combusting, and turning it into a porous carbon rich charcoal like substance. On its own biochar is like a sponge, put it in the ground as is and it will soak up nutrients, but if you charge or inoculate it with nutrients first and then put it in the ground it will slowly release them.
Jackie Casteel is Program Manager with the Missouri Organic Association, she said “The biochar is not a fertilizer, but it helps carry it and keep it in place”
And she added, biochar doesn’t just help keep nutrients in the ground, it can also help with water retention, and it acts as a carbon sink, putting the carbon back in the ground instead of burning it or letting it off through decomposition. There the carbon may “stay for potentially thousands of years, instead of going back into the atmosphere,” she said.
MOA is offering financial incentives and doing most of the biochar work on participating farms. They will be using two special machines built to produce biochar to exact specifications.
You can learn more at biochar.moaorganic.org and at nrcs.usda.gov