[Terrapreta] Welcome New Members

[Lloyd Helferty]

Tom,

 

  Thank you for organizing this list.  I have not been following along too
closely recently, but have had quite an interest in Terra Preta since first
hearing about it late last year.  In fact, I have been discussing potential
trials here in Ontario with a colleague of mine who has also been discussing
the issue with individuals at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Farming
and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), as well as a local organic farm family who seems
open to the possibility of conducting some field trials on a portion of
their land.  My colleague and I recently attended an Ontario conference
called "Growing the Margins", where we discussed Terra Preta trials with
many people there, including researchers at the Ontario Federation of
Agriculture (OFA), and there seems to be some interest in the subject of
performing field trials.  One notable name I see listed below is Duane
Pendergast, whom I met at the EIC Climate Change Technology Conference in
2006.  I believe that Duane, although based in Alberta, may be interested in
knowing that there have been discussions with regard to potential organized
scientific field trials in Canada and may with to contact me in order to
discuss further, where appropriate.

 

            Lloyd Helferty, Engineering Technologist

            Thornhill, ON, Canada

            905-707-8754

            647-886-8754

 

  _____  

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Tom Miles
Sent: April 5, 2008 4:57 PM
To: 'Terra Preta'
Subject: [Terrapreta] Welcome New Members

 

Welcome to several new members. 

 

A couple of days ago we invited 155 people who had visited the terra preta
website (http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/ ) to join the discussion
list.  The TP website gets about 300 visitors per day.  We've had about
100,000 unique visitors from 187 countries since January 2007. There are
currently 279 members of this discussion list which has also been running
since January 2007. The discussion has had 200-500 messages per month. 

 

As you can see from the archives the discussion runs from the simple and
practical to the fantastic and philosophical. The common thread is the
intentional use of charcoal in soil.

Archives: /

 

On the charcoal production side we've looked at charcoal making cook stoves,
earth and barrel kiln types, fixed kilns of both small and large capacity.
Greg, Gerrit and others have spent their lives mining the web for new
techniques. (Others just start fires around barrels.) We've probably spent
less time discussing industrial capital intensive systems like BEST, U of
Hawaii, Terra Humana or EPRIDA.

 http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/taxonomy/term/602

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/makingcharcoal

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/company

 

At the individual application level we have potting trials, like the
Charocoalab project  created by Naomi, Rob and Christelle, and individual
experiences with pots and small plots from China, India, Georgia and
Australia to the Gambia. Many of us have failed on our small scale tests but
we have learned in the process.  

http://bionecho.org/charcoalab/index.php

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/taxonomy/term/586/9

 

At the research level we've heard from Christoph Steiner (U of Beyreuth and
U Georgia), Mike Antal (U Hawaii), some of the Cornell group (Janice Thies)
and US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service.  We've heard
of TP workshops on campus (Cornell, U West Virginia) and in the field (Julie
Major, Honduras). Thanks to Adriana Downie, Steven Joseph, Ron Larson,
Kelpie Wilson and others we have benefitted from, supported and participated
in the International Biochar Initiative (formerly International Agrichar
Initiative). We look forward to the IBI conference in September. 

http://www.biochar-international.org/ibi2008conference.html

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/ibiaboutbiochar

 

Christelle Braun recently created Terracarbona to keep track of field
trials.

http://terracarbona.com/

Richard Haard (4th Corner Nurseries, US)), John Flottvik, Dr. Sai Bhakhar
Reddy (India) have kept us informed of their trials (and tribulations). Jim
Joyner has been trying to keep us practical for farm applications. Frank
Teuton, David Yarrow, Larry Williams, Allan Baillet and others maintain our
links to organic, vermiculture, permaculture and hydroponics. 

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/taxonomy/term/229

http://e-terrapretarooftopexp.blogspot.com/

 

Field applications discussions recently have considered the merits of
combination of charcoal with compost, cover crops, or other nutrient
sources.  We haven't seen many field tests on the scale of the Oil Mallee
charcoal tests in Australia. As we approach Spring planting in the Northern
Hemisphere we hope to see more organized attempts at field trials.  

 

We've had both science and speculation about how it all began in Terra Preta
de Indio in the Amazons and how it can be recreated. And we've tried to
maintain a modest reading list/bibliography on the website.

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/biblio

 

Sean Barry, Folke Gunther and Duane Pendergast have tried to keep our carbon
fixated (if that is possible) or at least sequestered. We're grateful to
Christoph for sharing his presentations at Bali. 

http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/gunthercarbondecide

http://www.biochar.org/joomla/

 

That's just a sampling. (I'm sure there are some whom I have not properly
offended.) New members are welcome to dive in at will. 

 

Many thanks to everyone for sharing their ideas and experience, and to Ron
Larson, Erich  Knight and Michael Bailes for creating and moderating this
discussion list. 

 

Kind regards,

 

Tom Miles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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