[Terrapreta] Soil Food Web

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear Philip

Philip Small wrote:
> My impression 
> <http://transectpoints.blogspot.com/2007/01/teaming-with-microbes-arrived-today.html> 
> is that Soil Foodweb's Elaine Ingham remains "unswervingly skeptical" 
> of biochar. Her point of view, last I heard, was that biochar, beyond 
> a devastatingly high C:N ratio, does not contribute to the soil food 
> web. In my opinion her endorsement is critically important to the 
> acceptance of biochar as a beneficial soil amendment by the general 
> public.

I am taking the liberty of including Soilfoodweb as a recipient of this 
e-mail, with the hopes that they will forward it to Dr. Ingram, and that 
she will respond indirectly, or directly. I would ask that she outlines 
her concerns, and tell us what we should demonstrate in tests so that 
she would feel justified in supporting charcoal additions to soil.

Best wishes,

Kevin
>
> On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 11:19 PM, MFH <mfh01 at bigpond.net.au 
> <mailto:mfh01 at bigpond.net.au>> wrote:
>
>     For those who may not be aware, the Soil Foodweb is a very valid
>     organisation dedicated to soil analysis and improvement.
>     www.*soilfoodweb*.com <http://www.soilfoodweb.com/>
>
>      
>
>     The following is a brief report from the Australian branch, with
>     mention of Carbon sequestration but they don't see to have
>     focussed yet on the use of charcoal. I'd suggest that they could
>     be useful allies. 
>
>      
>
>     Max H
>
>      
>
>