The research opportunities and needs related biochar are large. Much international activity has taken place on biochar research since the world’s first biochar related conference took place in Australia in 2007. There is now an extensive database on previous conferences and a very active international biochar conference calender.
The IBI research bibliography contains over 1000 biochar related items and is growing fast. Their list of research institutes working on biochar is also impressive.
It would be interesting to see a short summary on the chronology of biochar research in New Zealand. I think it would be fair to say that it has not always been a collaborative journey between the research institutions (Op-ed!). This may say more about research funding structure in NZ than anything else? (and I had better not stray any deeper into unknown territory!). One interesting link NZ has with the origins of biochar is that the late Peter Read (Massey University Center for Energy Research) coined the “biochar” phrase back in 2005? Again, it would be nice to have this history archived somewhere.
It would be great if this group could be a catalyst to pull the biochar research community together in a more collaborative way. I’m hearing that funding competition will always be a major obstacle. This sound like a great topic for the Research forum.
We are going to need members of the research community to join us and provide guidance on how we can collaborate and contribute to research needs. As we get stronger, we can use this strength for advocacy work on research funding.
Given any interest from the research community, we could have separate pages for various branches of research interest… somewhere for planned, ongoing and past biochar research activity to be high-lighted to the community, industry and government. Better understanding by these groups of your research interests and activities may lead to better support.
ANZBIG have provided a link in their last newsletter to a bulk recording of the. This is a 6hr YouTube which I have broken down so that you can jump to what might be of interest to you. ANZ BIOCHAR … Continue reading →
“Pilot three involves a 12-month field trial of biochar on kiwifruit orchards – biochar is a carbon-rich material known to improve soil nutrient availability, sequester carbon and improve soil drainage and aeration. While biochar has been used with other crops, … Continue reading →
https://www.ashburtondc.govt.nz/news/2024-news/lake-hood-water-quality-update-1-may-2024 … Continue reading →
“Pilot three involves a 12-month field trial of biochar on kiwifruit orchards – biochar is a carbon-rich material known to improve soil nutrient availability, sequester carbon and improve soil drainage and aeration. While biochar has been used with other crops, … Continue reading →
The bio for the above story does not specifically mention biochar but a G-Scholar search on Prof. Condron pulls a lot of historic research conducted at Lincoln, mostly around the interaction of biochar with N. I’ve filtered the results with … Continue reading →
Master’s research project on Repurposing Food Scraps With Biochar for High Production Soils In New Zealand – applications invited Biochar research goes bananas Co/ Betsey and the team at The Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste initiative. And who new we had … Continue reading →
Funding round open for Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research Date: 09 June 2023 “The 10 priorities for this year’s funding round are: …development of a biochar database and methodology to include in New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory [1 priority] A bit … Continue reading →
Dr Pranoy Pal has an association with biochar reaching back to his post-doctoral work at Lincoln University in 2012. Pranoy is now the Kiwifruit Technical Manager at Trevelyan’s Pack and Cool – New Zealand’s largest family-owned kiwifruit and avocado packhouse. … Continue reading →
Momentum around biochar is building in New Zealand, with a number of biochar-related projects in development. BNNZ has been invited to be part of the inaugural Ministry for Primary Industries Fieldays Forestry Hub next month, and internationally renowned biochar expert, … Continue reading →
Ralph Sims talks to … “The third and final section of the latest IPCC report outlines how we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as remove them from the atmosphere.“ He mentions biochar in the discussion… ““Soil carbon has … Continue reading →