Letter from the Executive Director 

Like many in the biochar industry, I came to it from a soil and agriculture perspective. The Terra Preta soils in the Amazon Basin fascinated me. Hundreds of research papers showed that biochar could improve soil health, crop yields, water holding, and nutrient retention. In the early 2010s, I expected the industry to scale rapidly to meet growing demand from the agricultural sector.

But that didn’t happen — and I became disillusioned by biochar in agriculture. Demand for biochar in agriculture has grown, for sure, but not in the way I expected. Biochar was too expensive. The benefits were oversold and many in the industry fel into magical thinking. Applying biochar was difficult and time consuming. The benefits, while notable in some situations, are not as obvious in high quality soils and yield benefits only pay for themselves in certain high value crops. Most importantly, many in the biochar industry were focused on biochar as a solution unto itself, rather than a solution to particular problems faced by farmers.

In the past few years though, my thinking on biochar in agriculture has evolved and my optimism has grown. But instead of a cure-al, I now believe that biochar will succeed, at least initially, in targeted solutions: as a component of horticultural growing media, as an ingredient in enhanced efficiency fertilizers, and yes, as a soil amendment in certain situations.

To drive this demand, USBI is jumping feet first into the agricultural sector. We are working with Washington State University to implement large scale trials of biochar and biochar-enhanced fertilizers with commercial farms this month. We are reaching out to universities to conduct commercialy-relevant research onusing biochar in horticultural media. We will be hosting Train-the-Trainer sessions starting this fall to educate agricultural professionals about biochar and USDA cost-share programs, in conjunction with American Farmland Trust. And most importantly, to lead this effort, we are hiring for a Director of Agricultural Markets.

It will not be easy, and there is a lot of hard work to be done, but biochar as an agricultural input is poised for rapid growth, finally. 

Myles Gray
Executive Director