[Terrapreta] IAI Conference. International Agrichar initiative

[Tom Miles]

Ron,

 

Many thanks for the report.  I'd be happy to put up reports on the
conference from each of you, Michael and Stephen (or others) that could go
on the list and on the web.  Pictures and videos help. 

 

Thank you for your efforts on behalf of the list. While it was important to
identify the list at the conference I think it's future and usefulness will
be determined by the participants. It would be nice to be funded but we
don't need to be the association list. It might be best if IAI had a member
list and Terra Preta remains an open discussion list. 

 

As we have seen on the list a US farmer can get large quantities of char
from major producers, probably at the volatile matter content of choice.
There are at least three smaller (50 tpd) "farm" scale technologies
available but they are all under development and scale up from smaller
capacities. Not many farmers will want to be in the charcoal business. But
if we can identify the appropriate applications and the agronomic and
economic value of charcoal addition then it will be used. So I think our
focus should be on research and commercial demonstration oriented toward
contemporary applications in conjunction with techniques for plant nutrition
such as compost and biofertilizers. This should happen in developed and
developing economies. If the agronomic value is clear then the Carbon
benefits will follow.

 

Congratulations Stephen for launching BEST. I'm sure that once you retire
you will be a sought after resource for bio-char applications.

 

Can Debbie provide more information on her project? List members may be
willing to lend support if necessary. 

 

Have good trip.

 

Regards,

 

Tom

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

     

 

From: rongretlarson at comcast.net [mailto:rongretlarson at comcast.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 6:38 PM
To: Tom Miles; 'Michael Bailes'; 'terrapreta'
Cc: 'Stephen Joseph'
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] IAI Conference. International Agrichar initiative

 

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
lec tures 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 t
alk"
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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