Must watch video if you are interested in biochar as an animal feed or innovative pathways for biochar to pastoral soils. The video rolls straight into a 2nd, more detailed look at Doug Pow’s work with biochar. My thanks to Frank in Tasmania for pointing me at this.
Hi all,
This looks like a great event and just a hop across the water via Gold Coast (56km south).
The live streaming option is innovative but it would be great to get NZ delegates in attendance. Anyone interested in a block booking? The venue is next to the Tyagara airport so if you have access to private jet…
Don Graves gave a presentation focused on biochar at the recent Land Use Opportunities Symposium in Rotorua. You can find a PDF version of the presentation here. Plenty of other interesting presentations and at least 2 others mention biochar.
Coverage also here…
http://www.rotoruanz.com/do-business/key-investment-sectors/land-use-opportunities-symposium/
“A symposium to explore sustainable land practices and use opportunities for Lake Rotorua catchment was held on June 16 and 17, to support landowners who will be affected by new nitrogen rules designed to improve water quality in Lake Rotorua.
Hosted by Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BOPRC) and Grow Rotorua, the two day event attracted over 200 people.
It featured a wide range of high calibre guest speakers discussing environmentally sustainable farming, business innovation and opportunities for land use change in the Lake Rotorua catchment.”
… has been announced and can be viewed from the MFE website via the linked headline above. You may think this cause for celebration but for me it is rather depressing. Its not the new target that makes me depressed, but the complete failure for biochar to make any impact or appear on anyone’s agenda in NZ.
I think this is highlighted by my failure to find any reference to the word ‘biochar’ in the public submissions summary document linked here.
I’d like to here from you if you disagree or you can offer some analysis on what we need to do going forward.
Prof. Ralph Sims comments of ‘watch this space’ recorded here come to mind.
https://keithwoodford.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/strategic-positioning-down-on-the-dairy-farm/
Prof. Keith Woodford has posed pertinent questions here about NZ dairying and Don Graves has provided provided some insight into the biochar possibilities that remain unexplored in NZ.
We are hoping to change this soon with some real world field trials.
This title does not hint at a biochar connection and neither does the synopsis for this recent research publication from the Department of Ecology at Lincoln University.
But closer inspection finds that biochar and biosolids were used as soil amendments as part of this research…
The results from this work are not inspiring from a biochar proponents perspective…
What I assume from this work is that,
I would contend that these conditions are not what the biochar community want to see in contemporary biochar research… and particularly in combination. Some of the ‘failures’ in past biochar research have been re-evaluated based on better understanding on how to prepare biochar as a soil nutrient carrier and biology habitat. Biochar can be prepared in many ways and should be specifically selected (based on original biomass, process conditions and post-production treatment) for the application in question. I wonder about alternative outcomes from this study if the biochar had been composted fully with the biosolids and applied at rates consistent with current thinking on practical applications… and then observe for a few years.
You can find a scan PDF of the paper with an internet search. Let me know if you have a problem picking it up.
I plan to circulate a capability and cost questionnaire to testing laboratories in NZ very soon.
A template for this Q-aire can be viewed for here. Your comments welcome.
I am also exploring options for sending samples overseas. Please let me know if you have samples that you want to get tested. We may be able to negotiate better prices for larger orders.
Professors’ TR (Reg) Preston and Ron Leng are leading lights on biochar animal feeding and many other areas of biochar research. IBI biblio searches on ‘Preston’ (22 results) and ‘Leng’ (6 results) are revealing.
They were principle authors on well known ground-breaking research trials in Laos, feeding biochar to cattle. Reg has agreed to allowing me to circulate a chapter of Geotherapy, which was authored by him…
“The bottom line
The potential role of biochar as a means of sequestering atmospheric carbon has so far been the main focus of attention. However, its virtues are much wider with potential impacts on soil fertility, plant yield and quality and as an additive in livestock feed, biodigesters and other liquid waste disposal systems. More important is the emphasis that biochar has given to the overall concept of the systems approach to utilization of renewable resources and recycling of wastes with maintenance or improvement in soil fertility. Biochar makes most sense when it is derived from a process that aims to optimize the varied characteristics of biomass, to satisfy the major needs of humanity which are food, energy, shelter and a healthy environment. It needs to be produced and used locally for maximum benefits.”
Please contact me by email you would like a copy of this chapter (trevor(at)soilcarbon.org.nz)
I’m sure we can learn a lot about how to establish a forestry based biochar project from this work in the USA. It would be good to get some feed-back from NZ foresters and farm-forest groups on what is shown here…
Here’s the link to their very informative website.
