Biochar Use in Agriculture: The Economic and Environmental Benefits

Anthropogenic use of biochar can be dated back two millennia, however, only in the last couple of decades has significant research been undertaken to find out why, and whether the practice can bring benefits to modern day agriculture and other industries. It is estimated there are now more than 30,000 scientific publications on the topic with meta-analyses showing astounding results. Crop yield increases of 10-42%, increases in P availability by a factor of 4.6 and reduction in non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by 12-50% are just a few. These derive solely from the addition of biochar to soil, with many more potential uses showing equally impressive results. So why has the biochar industry not commercialised to the same degree? This report looks at the environmental and economic benefits and drawbacks of biochar and asks if these have contributed to its comparatively slow uptake.

It has been understood for many years that producing biochar can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a practice that has now been proven essential for the globe to reach minimum warming and emissions net zero. It is estimated by the International Biochar Initiative that biochar production could be responsible for removing 6% of global emissions per year, with further savings from its cascade of uses. Only in the last few years has this had any financial reward attached to it with the adoption of voluntary carbon markets, now fuelling a growing production industry and alleviating somewhat the high price of the biochar product.

More and more farm scale trials are being conducted, with varying results. This has highlighted some of the key approaches towards biochar use; not all biochar is created equal and that there are certain scenarios where it will have the greatest impact. Farmers and growers need to be increasingly aware of what it is they are using due to significant variations in feedstock, production parameters and inoculation as each could make or break a project. To make this worse, policy and guidance have not been developed in line with production, leaving potential users erring on the side of scepticism when considering projects.

On-farm production is on the rise however, as often feedstocks may be sourced on farm or locally and end use may be within animal, arable or grower sectors. Here we can see increased economic benefits through heat or energy generation, as well as the ability to offset farm-based emissions and growing opportunities for carbon trading.

Biochar should not be considered the “silver bullet” it once was, but a nature-based tool that through a considered approach can deliver economic benefits in the right scenario, and environmental benefits in almost every application.