I agree Joel, but without as much experience. What do you farm?
On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 10:44 AM, Joel and Sarah Gagnon < [email protected]> wrote: > I have been gardening organically for almost a half century at this point. > It has been a continuous challenge to raise and maintain soil organic > matter. While it is true that you can raise humus levels over time, it is > also true that the fraction of added organic material that ends up as humus > is very small, and even that is subject to accelerated oxidation under > tillage. The increment of carbon added to the soil with biochar is hugely > greater, and its stability is also vastly greater. I don't think charcoal > can completely substitute for humus, but the functions for which it is an > adequate substitute are impressive and greatly beneficial in enhancing the > value of the land for agriculture and aquifer recharge. Even without carbon > capture to recommend it, biochar would be very worth pursuing. If it can be > subsidized for its carbon-capturing effect, it could revolutionize > agriculture. > > Joel > > > At 03:38 PM 8/6/09 -0400, you wrote: > >> Ryan, >> >> On Thu, 6 Aug 2009 07:46:18 -0400 Ryan Hottle <[email protected]> >> writes: >> >> I seriously recommend looking into it before simply >> > giving the >> > "knee-jerk" anti biofuel reaction. >> >> I have read a lot of the online papers and conference products, including >> Lehmann's, and discussed the question with him in his office. He was much >> more cautious than any of the online stuff when he realized that I, like >> anyone who has studied soil carbon pool dynamics, knew that there are >> effective farm soil organic matter building practices that produce the >> same results as the effects attributed to biochar. And at the same time >> produce food! Which the use of land to produce biomass for biochar does >> not do. >> >> biochar >> > is >> > special in that it is a highly recalcitrant C that is not easily >> > mineralized. >> >> The eventual effect of the aforementioned practices over time is to build >> a soil pool of carbon that is just as recalcitrant (meaning stable) as >> biochar. A fact that Lehman acknowledged. What do you think makes highly >> productive muckland black? >> >> > biochar to >> > sequester C for centennial to millennial time scales can be >> > sustainably >> > harvested from all sorts of sustainably managed and harvested crops. >> > Short >> > rotation willow coppice, saw dust, saw ends, nut shells, storm >> > debris, urban >> > lawn debris, low-input high diversity energy crops >> >> Using willow or other energy crops does not answer the question, What is >> the trade-off? What crop is being sacrificed to grow biofuel on that >> acreage? How important is the alternative crop compared to the biofuel or >> biochar? In the post-hydrocarbon age, biomass again will become a main >> way energy enters our world. Its uses need to be considered carefully. >> The other sources you cite - like saw dust - are byproducts that 1) are >> simply too small to scale up, or 2) will become valuable for other more >> purposes. Like biofuel from french fry oil, they don't amount to a hill >> of beans. A Vermont farmer had to collect all the used cooking oil from >> as far as he could economically transport it, just to power one small >> farm. Hawthorne Valley farm, another producer of biodiesel for farm use >> from cooking oil, found that China had cornered the market on cooking >> oil from all the local fast food outlets. China! Because of steadily the >> rising price of sawdust, our farm will soon be unable to purchase the >> sawdust we use, first as horse bedding, then to beef up the C/N ratio of >> our farm-scale composting. As the oil age wanes, these are bellwethers of >> change in the way all sorts of biomass is valued in the marketplace. >> >> In time, unholistic approaches to all questions like how we use of >> biomass will be revealed as frivolous. Every problem needs to be studied >> in its proper context. Light talk of energy production using the "wastes" >> that currently litter our extravagant agro-, residential and industrial >> landscapes will soon be brought to heel by nature's law: >> waste=food=waste=food... ...and as food becomes more expensive, what >> will waste be used for, biochar or food? Biochar or winter heat? >> >> >And it [biochar production] means local manufacturing and local jobs... >> >> Oh please, this is the superficial level of thinking I would expect from >> my local congress critter... >> >> Karl >> >> _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > Questions about the list? ask > [email protected] > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- Ryan Darrell Hottle LEED-AP Environmental Science, PhD Student Carbon Management and Sequestration Center The Ohio State University Rm. 454 Kottman Hall 2021 Coffey Road Columbus, OH 43210 C: (740) 258 8450 NOTE: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any copies. Any dissemination or use of this information by a person other than the intended recipient is unauthorized and may be illegal. _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
