USBI Requests Continued Support of Biochar in CSAF Activities List
Recently, USBI submitted a letter to the USDA NRCS Climate Office, advocating for the continued inclusion of Conservation Practice Standard 336 - Soil Carbon Amendment - in the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry (CSAF) Mitigation Activities List. This request emphasizes the importance of biochar as a soil amendment for its unparalleled benefits in sequestering carbon and enhancing soil health. Biochar’s ability to improve soil organic matter, provide habitat for soil microorganisms, and increase aggregate stability makes it a vital component in sustainable agriculture.
This is critical as NRCS Conservation Practices on this activities list have access to funds made available through the Inflation Reduction Act. These funds are outside the existing EQIP resources and can further extend opportunity to our industry.
Our goal is to ensure biochar remains a recognized and supported practice within the CSAF activities list until it can be fully integrated into the COMET greenhouse gas model*. Continued inclusion will support ongoing efforts to collect necessary data and ultimately facilitate biochar's broader adoption. This support will enable biochar producers and users to continue contributing to climate mitigation while reaping the numerous soil health benefits. By maintaining biochar as a provisional activity, we can help ensure that agricultural practices evolve towards greater sustainability and effectiveness in carbon removal, providing long-term benefits for both farmers and the environment.
* For those unfamiliar with COMET, it is a NRCS tool set that allows you to evaluate the potential carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas reductions from adopting any NRCS Conservation Practices. Biochar is still an unknown material in this system. There are projects actively under way to address this.
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