Biochar Event – next Sunday, 3 May

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An informal event to share experience and knowledge on making and using biochar.

  • Share experiences and ideas with other biochar makers
  • Learn ways to make biochar for home garden, farm or greenhouse
  • Compare different biochar machines
  • Practical Demonstrations
  • No experience necessary. All welcome.

Date Sunday 3rd May 2015
Location 91 Union Rd, Mauku, Auckland
Time 10am—2pm
Cost Free
Bring—Your biochar rig, lunch, umbrella. Bring along your biochar rig if you have one. We will supply dry feedstock, a safe environment and quenching water. If the weather is wet, bring a raincoat. Access from Auckland or the Waikato is easy. Take the Bombay off ramp toward Waiuku. Go right on to Patumahoe Rd then left onto Union Rd. Park in the turning bay Park Here by the stock yards of 89 Union Rd, our neighbour. If you need to drop off equipment, come down the drive, drop it off and park back at the yards. Please note the venue has young live-stock so no dogs.
Please RSVP for a map.

Trevor Richards
trlahh@gmail.com, 021 678278

Biochar For Environmental Management – 2nd Edition

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2nd Edition of Biochar for Environmental Management is Now Available for Order; IBI Members Receive a 20% Discount and Access to Preliminary Pages and Chapter 1

Biochar for Environmental Management II‘With its careful evaluation of every aspect of biochar, this book represents a cornerstone of our future global sustainability. I’m convinced that its message is every bit as important as that of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and potentially every bit as politically powerful as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. If it finds a wide enough readership, it will change our world forever, and very much for the better.’ – Tim Flannery (Melbourne, August 2014).

1. Biochar for Environmental Management: An Introduction

Johannes Lehmann and Stephen Joseph

2. Traditional Use of Biochar

Katja Wiedner and Bruno Glaser

3. Fundamentals of Biochar Production

Robert Brown, Bernardo del Campo, Akwasi A. Boateng, Manuel Garcia-Perez and Ondřej Mašek

4. Biochar Production Technology

Akwasi A. Boateng, Manuel Garcia-Perez, Ondřej Mašek, Robert Brown and Bernardo del Campo

5. Characteristics of Biochar: Physical and Structural Properties

Chee H. Chia, Adriana Downie and Paul Munroe

6. Characteristics of Biochar: Macro-molecular Properties

Markus Kleber, William Hockaday and Peter S. Nico

7. Biochar Elemental Composition and Factors Influencing Nutrient Retention

James A. Ippolito, Kurt A. Spokas, Jeffrey. M. Novak, Rick. D. Lentz and Keri B. Cantrell

8. A Biochar Classification System and Associated Test Methods

Marta Camps-Arbestain, James E. Amonette, Balwant Singh, Tao Wang and Hans Peter Schmidt

9. Evolution of Biochar Properties in Soil

Joseph J. Pignatello, Minori Uchimiya, Samuel Abiven and Michael W.I. Schmidt

10. Persistence of Biochar in Soil

Johannes Lehmann, Samuel Abiven, Markus Kleber, Genxing Pan, BP Singh, Saran Sohi and Andy Zimmerman

11. Movement of Biochar in the Environment

Cornelia Rumpel, Jens Leifeld, Cristina Santin and Stefan Doerr

12. Biochar Effects on Crop Yield

Simon Jeffery, Diego Abalos, Kurt Spokas and Frank G.A. Verheijen

13. Biochar Effects on the Abundance, Activity and Diversity of the Soil Biota

Janice E. Thies, Matthias C. Rillig and Ellen R. Graber

14. Biochar Effects on Plant Ecophysiology

Claudia Kammann and Ellen Graber

15. Biochar Effects on Soil Nutrient Transformations

Thomas H. DeLuca, Michael J.Gundale, M. Derek MacKenzie and Davey L. Jones

16. Priming Effects in Biochar-amended Soils: Implications of Biochar-soil Organic Matter Interactions for Carbon Storage

Thea Whitman, Bhupinder Pal Singh and Andrew Zimmerman

17. Biochar Effects on Nitrous Oxide and Methane Emissions from Soil

Lukas Van Zwieten, Claudia Kammann, MariaLuz Cayuela, Bhupinder Pal Singh, Stephen Joseph, Stephen Kimber, Scott Donne, Tim Clough and Kurt Spokas

18. Biochar Effects on Nutrient Leaching

David Laird and Natalia Rogovska

19. Biochar Effects on Soil Hydrology

Caroline A. Masiello, Brandon Dugan, Catherine E. Brewer, Kurt Spokas, Jeffrey M. Novak, Zuolin Liu and Giovambattista Sorrenti

20. Biochar and Heavy Metals

Luke Beesley, Eduardo Moreno, Guido Fellet, Leonidas Carrijo and Tom Sizmur

21. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Aromatic Compounds in Biochar

Thomas D. Bucheli, Isabel Hilber and Hans-Peter Schmidt

22. Sorption and Remediation of Organic Compounds in Soils and Sediments by (Activated) Biochar

Sarah E. Hale, Gerard Cornelissen and David Werner

23. Biochar and Retention/Efficacy of Pesticides

Ellen R. Graber and Rai Kookana

24. Test Procedures for Biochar Analysis in Soils

Michael Bird

25. Biochar as an Additive to Compost and Growing Media

Christoph Steiner, Miguel A. Sánchez-Monedero and Claudia Kammann

26. Biochar Systems and System Fit

Saran Sohi, John McDonagh, Jeff Novak, Weixiang Wu and Luciana-Maria Miu

27. Biochar, Carbon Accounting and Climate Change

Annette Cowie, Dominic Woolf, John Gaunt, Miguel Brandão and Ruy Anaya de la Rosa

28. Biochar Sustainability and Certification

Frank G.A. Verheijen, Ana Catarina Bastos, Hans Peter Schmidt, Miguel Brandão and Simon Jeffery

29. Economic Evaluation of Biochar Systems: Current Evidence and Challenges

Simon Shackley, Abbie Clare, Stephen Joseph, Bruce McCarl and Hans-Peter Schmidt

30. Socio-economic Feasibility, Implementation and Evaluation of Small Scale Biochar Projects

Stephen Joseph, Mai Lan Anh, Abbie Clare and Simon Shackley

31. Commercialization of the Biochar Industry

Michael Sesko, David Shearer and Gregory Stangl

Thomas Rippel and his world of sh*t

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After the previous video from Glenn, this positive biochar story is light relief. It highlights some great opportunities for NZ dairy farms to move toward sustainable farming practices. We’ve seen previously that standoff pads and herd homes are becoming important tools for highly stocked land. They could be essential for farms in the future trying to battle nutrient caps. Biochar is the missing ingredient for farm nutrient management in NZ and unfortunately is still missing from the vocabulary of the agriculture industry here.

“Thomas Rippel has a vision to turn the world’s soils into a lush paradise, reverse global warming and reduce world hunger by living in symbiosis with cows and composting their manure with biochar. For this vision, cows should only eat grass and clover from pastures like the alps and from crop rotation. And the number of cows on this planet should not be determined by our appetite for meat, but by the amount of grass and clover available to us in this wonderful symbiosis. And lastly, farmers should compost the manure of their cows with biochar, giving us all the organic fertilizer we need to grow grains and vegetables for humans without needing any chemical fertilizers.

Thomas is a globetrotter who has settled down in Switzerland to live his life as an organic farmer. Sustainable agriculture is central to his life’s philosophy and combines his passions for cutting edge science, healthy nutrition, animal welfare and combating global climate change.”