[Terrapreta] Charcoal agriculture: not ready for prime time

[Michael Bailes]

Charcoal agriculture: not ready for prime time
Posted by Gar Lipow at 3:30 PM on 20 May 2007

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/5/19/15043/2010

JMG and I were both too optimistic. We both thought charcoal agriculture was
ready to play a limited but real role in controlling global warming. Burn
some high carbon biomass, turning it into charcoal that will stay stable for
thousands of years; add it to soil, which builds tilth and structure; you
have just sequestered some carbon and improved agriculture at the same time.

We know it can be done. Pre-Columbian Indians covered much of Brazil with
terra preta (black earth) built up through "slash-and-char" agriculture over
thousands of years. Terra preta is not just dead, well-structured soil. It
hosts a complex ecology of living organisms that help maintain soil ions and
PH -- one of the most amazing agricultural environments ever created.

Unfortunately, it turns out we don't know how to duplicate it yet. Applying
pyrolysis to biomass and then mixing it with compost turns out not produce
terra preta. According to Scientific American, modern attempts increase
yields at first, but they drop after three or four harvests. So while it is
worth more research, terra preta is not a solution for today.
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-- 
m
"You can fix all the world's problems in a garden. . . . Most people don't
know that"
FROM
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/wp-content/permaculture.swf
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