[Terrapreta] Pure Organics Vs. Biological Agriculture

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi David, Kevin,

David makes a good point here, Kevin.  The data is not non-existent.  It does exist.  Some of it is very expensive.  Johannes Lehmann's book "Dark Earth" costs $229.  Some of it is a very tough read, too.  I have read some from all of the authors you mentioned, David.  I bought "Dark Earth" from Springer Books and I have read only some parts of it.  I am a believer in all the benefits (1), 2), and 3)) of Terra Preta.

But, I will tell you that the economics of this are right now very difficult.  I CANNOT make charcoal from biomass and sell it for only $200/ton.  I would lose money doing that.  I CANNOT make lots of tons of charcoal, either.  The only way that I can do it cleanly is by "flaring" the producer gas.  I am working on ways to use the waste heat and the fuel gases, but even when I do, it will still be hard to make a profit, even at $200/ton.  And, $200/ton is way more than farmers are willing to pay to put 5-20 tons per acre onto their land.  They will not do it unless they see a darn near immediate equivalent monetary benefit in the productivity of their field.
They will not pay for the opportunity to "save the world".

Some would claim that "I am tilting at a windmill" on this.  But, I am an optimist.  I am trying very hard to find ways to bring value (in all the forms 1), 2), and 3)) to what I am trying to do.  I will continue to work of making charcoal from biomass a more valuable commodity (or service) and I will continue to find ways to make charcoal from biomass in the most efficient way possible.

Regards,

SKB


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Yarrow<mailto:dyarrow at nycap.rr.com> 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 8:59 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Pure Organics Vs. Biological Agriculture


  try reading johannes lehmann, christoph steiner, bruno glaser, makato ogawa, 
  wim sombroek, william woods...  lots of data already exists documenting the 
  history and productivity of terra preta.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: "Kevin Chisholm" <kchisholm at ca.inter.net<mailto:kchisholm at ca.inter.net>>

  > Would you have any test results you could refer us to, to support these 
  > statements?


  _______________________________________________
  Terrapreta mailing list
  Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/>
  http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org<http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/>
  http://info.bioenergylists.org<http://info.bioenergylists.org/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/terrapreta_bioenergylists.org/attachments/20070918/1a35bb7c/attachment.html