Enhancing soils and sequestering carbon by sequestering Biochar

We have recently obtained funding from the Sustainable Farming Fund to investigate the effects of Biochar on vineyard soils. Biochar is the name for charcoal that is formed by pyrolysis (burning in the absence of oxygen) of biomass (in our case byproducts from the timber industry). Biochar has been implicated in the formation of Terra Preta and is under investigation as a means of achieving carbon sequestration. Additionally, we are investigating the effects Biochar has on increasing the soils buffering capability when sequestered underground with compost - increasing both the cation exchange capacity and water holding ability of the poorer Central Otago soils.

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