Biochar: Sustainability: Carbon Dioxide
The weather occurring in the summer of 2024 has increased the subject of climate change in society's thoughts and discussions. The focus of discussion is that the loss of the element carbon (C) from the earth's crust and mantle into the earth's atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO,) is creating a heating of the earth's atmosphere which in turn causes the extreme climate which will eventually make the earth's atmosphere toxic to biological life. This thought process is gaining such credibility that public and private entities are following protocols that will supposedly reduce the CO, concentration in the earth's atmosphere by a certain timeline. For example, the company Microsoft and the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota are spending millions of dollars to achieve what is termed "carbon neutrality" by a certain date in the next 15 to 20 years. In both cases, the method of achieving the "carbon neutrality" is by the use of biochar.
By definition the term biochar is defined by the International Biochar Initiative as the solid material obtained from the thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment. Biochar was discovered by modern civilization in the late 1800's in South America where it had been used by ancient civilizations for many years. The original purpose of biochar was to enhance the biological and physical properties of soil so that the chemical properties of soil would need very small additions of fertilizer to ensure profitable crop production.
In recent years, as the interest in biochar has increased, companies building machines to make biochar have started to appear in large numbers. Of course, everyone's machine contains the best technology needed to trap potential carbon dioxide (CO,) in a package that can be returned to the earth's crust rather than allowing CO to accumulate in the earth's atmosphere. These machines are always changing and constantly evolving so rapidly that there is now a new machine that is portable and can create biochar while spreading the same biochar onto a crop field.
Another aspect of biochar that does not gather a lot of discussion is the source material used to create the biochar. Some of the various experts in the biochar technology claim that the source material used to make the biochar has a very important effect on how well the biochar works for improving soil health. Their contention is that the biochar source material that comes from toxic materials doesn't necessarily work as well to create biochar that will improve soil health characteristics.
So, it seems at this point in time, the whole industry is best summarized by the Minneapolis Star Tribune author Susan Du: "As private and public sector organizations face increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions, the market for carbon offset and removal credits is growing with environmental organizations often playing a watchdog role differentiating between initiatives that actually remove pollutants and those that 'greenwash' it."
Growers Mineral, Corp.'s limited experience with biochar for improving soil health seems to point in a direction where the element (Ca) has to be part of the equation. As always, Dr. Victor Tiedjens had it correct from the beginning.
This is an excerpt from the Summer Growers Solution (2025) written by Jim Halbeisen, Director of Research.
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