Biochar: Not All it’s Ground Up to Be?

Reader Contribution by Stan Cox
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The past decade has seen growing enthusiasm for an agricultural practice that involves burying charcoal—at first glance a seemingly odd thing to do. But rather than everyday barbecue briquets, this method employs a very special fine-grained charcoal, produced at very high temperatures under low-oxygen conditions. Proponents have designated it “biochar.”

The International Biochar Initiative, the industry’s highest-profile trade group, describes the product’seffects

this way: “This 2,000 year-old practice converts agricultural waste into a soil enhancer that can hold carbon, boost food security and discourage deforestation. The process creates a fine-grained, highly porous charcoal that helps soils retain nutrients and water.” Furthermore, IBI notes, “The carbon in biochar resists degradation and can hold carbon in soils for hundreds to thousands of years,” curbing greenhouse-gas accumulation in the atmosphere.

Is it possible that high-tech charcoal could resolve what are arguably humanity’s two biggest challenges, by helping produce enough food while protecting the Earth from being grilled by global warming?

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