[Terrapreta] IAI Conference. International Agrichar initiative

[rongretlarson at comcast.net]

Tom, Michael etal

   Thanks to Michael for starting the post mortem comments on the IAI conference #1.  Numbers 2 and 3 are scheduled for Newcastle University in the UK (Sept. '08) and Rio (likely) in '09.  

    Other reports -  Wednesday concluded conference with a 4-hour trip to BEST (Stephen Joseph has recently sold this 20-year old pyrolysis-oriented firm and so will be retiring himself in a few more months).  The new owner is continuing in NSW, but also starting up more activities in Madison Wisconsin (USA).  Several larger pyrolysis units reported to be in the BEST pipeline, but none under construction.  Saw small experimental plot indicating well the value of char and char with added NPK.

    The previous Friday, we saw larger experimental plots in Wollongbar many km north (I write this from Kempsey, NSW still a long way from entering Queensland - after being unable to get to a terminal earlier - and so I have to keep this short).  This is really a lovely part of the world!

    One important message for pyrolysis enthusiasts (especially, but not only in the US) is that the IAI Exec Director Debbie Read (who with folks from BEST did great job also on the conference) has been working with Colorado Senator Ken Salazar on a really extensive bio-char component of the present Ag bill authorization.  If eventually included, this is a major step forward for bio-char.

    The role of "terrapreta" as a web-site was mentionned (favorably) quite often.  But if the succssor to the IAI group takes off (a motion was accepted unanimously (?) to form a new group (a Society?) with a new name, so it is not yet clear what "terra preta" should do.  The role of that new group included some of the roles of our "terrapreta"  list, but a future role for IAI's successor as a discussion group facilitator was not listed as one of its future tasks.

   As Michael said, the talks were excellent - and will be well worth downloading.  They were almost all on soil testing - and certainly most were positive (at least one reported no results).  The trend seemed to be towards 10 tonnes/hectare - applied only in the top 10 cm - but some other application levels were also reported.

    The big need (still unfilled) was for something a farmer could do to get some charcoal for testing.  BEST is not equipped to supply either char or farm-scale machines.  Tom Miles knows most of what has gone on in pyrolysis over the last 20 years - so I am guessing a list developed from "stoves" and other of Tom's achives of all the acceptable smaller-scale approaches would help farmers world-wide a lot to get started.  A "standard" price or $200/tonne was being used often - but there is none available in NSW at that price.  I think it possible for us to get char at that price using a farnm's own residues - and there were plenty there who hope to make that happen.

   More later.   Ron

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Tom Miles" <tmiles at trmiles.com> 

Michael,
 
Thanks for here port and congratulations to Stephen and the other hosts and organizers for what sounds like an inspiring and educational conference. We look forward to seeing the conference posters and presentations and hearing comments from those who attended. 
 
The continuing role of this and other lists should be to bridge the gap between the research, the sources of charcoal, and the intentional use of charcoal in soil. We will all try many things based on information from a wide variety of sources and we are bound to see many failures. Hopefully interaction on this list can increase our probability of success. 
 
Tom   
 
From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Michael Bailes
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 2:59 AM
To: terrapreta
Cc: Stephen Joseph
Subject: [Terrapreta] IAI Conference. International Agrichar initiative
 
I.A.I. Conference. International Agrichar initiative
Some initial thoughts and reactions.

A two day talk fest near Sydney, NSW Australia just finished. 
About 150+ people attended.
Wall to wall Ph.D's in every discipline know to man, soil biology, engineering, accountancy, economics, microbiology, microbiology, material science, archeology, ecology, agriculture and even two farmers and two gardeners. 
No politicians, little (virtually nil) press.

The I.A.I. hopes to have all the papers up on their website in two to three weeks. (depending on author copyright permission) 
The papers/proceedings will be well worth a day or two's browse if you are seriously interested in TP.
 Hopefully they will also have the poster presentations which I found especially interesting and did not get time to study in more detail. 
 I took extensive notes of lectures  and would be happy to help explain any lectures that might be a bit brief and truncated in a web PP presentation.

I will make a few posts about the conference over the next little while when my head stops spinning. 
People were very nice, friendly and talkative even if sometimes suffering from a touch of Aspergers
Judging from the limited number of people I was able to talk to (I should have stayed for dinner and field trips) and some good guessing there was:- 
No one from hypography , I person from permaculture,(the guy who started the TP link there) and about six-8 from this Bio, Terra preta mailing-list.

 People really wanted more info. I tried to get the organizers to promote the various net forum (s) but failed.(They set a cracking pace with little time for digression) 
 Perhaps Hypog and TP list will be mentioned when all the papers come out.

 All presentations where excellent.
Power Point and USB devices have certainly changed the world of "chalk and talk"

Again on the small sampling of people I was able to talk to; People seemed to divide into
1) those who want to make money from selling char machines,bio-oil, green coal, big agribusiness etc 
2) those who had research careers in the area and tended mostly (but not always) to focus on minutiae
3) those who really didn't know much about TP at all. and were looking for more information. They looked a bit bemused by it all 
4) people concerned about global warming
5) those wanting to do, or encourage more research.

I sat down to lunch yesterday with a farmer from Bolivia, a person from Epidra USA, a NZlander connected with their Govt primary industries; and a Englishman who explains new technologies to business. Quite a range of countries and occupations. 

[B]The lecturer comment that sticks in my head the most?[/B]
 Dr. Johannes Lehmann, (Cornell soil scientist and an author of Amazonian Dark Earths) had a great photo of TP soil going down a metre or two. There were stacks more pottery shards in the soil than I ever imagined there would be. Some quite big bits, slabs almost, all the way down though the soil. 
 I asked about this and he said not all TP soils have pottery " If you go back to before they had pottery say 6,000 years ago you just get stone age artifacts."

If you think about this I think he was telling me that there is 6,000 year old soil in Brazil /tropics that is still fertile after all those years..!!! 

No wonder TP has not seeped into our collective consciousness yet.
 It would be easier to believe in fairies at the bottom of my garden!

-- 
Michael Bailes.
"Human beings, 
who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others,
are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See" 
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