[Terrapreta] Pure Organics Vs. Biological Agriculture

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear Sean

You hit the nail right on the head with this posting. It appears to me 
that basically, we all want TP to work, we feel it is a great growing 
medium, but we don't YET have an "information package" assembled that 
enables us to promote TP sensibly and in good conscience.

Does anyone know if anyone, anywhere in the world, is making money 
selling char into the TP market?

Alot of us are struggling with TP economics now. It would appear at the 
present, that the cost of char is high, the dollar value of benefits 
have not been clearly defined, and there are no "easy carbon credits" to 
offset costs. We all hope this will change soon, and that a t least a 
niche market is found for a significant tommage of char for TP 
applicatioons.

Best wishes,

Kevin

Sean K. Barry wrote:
> 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
>  
>  
>