[Terrapreta] What TP as carbon sequestration can do?

[Philip Small]

On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 1:29 PM, lou gold <lou.gold at gmail.com> wrote:

> fossil fuel and industrial agro empires must have solid economic incentives
> in the terra preta for this technology to be applied in the industrial
> world.
>

Not to distract from SKB's point that you are responding to, but industrial
farmers will do "stupid" things that don't pencil out, especially during
good years. The temptation is always there to spend on unproven technology
in order to hit the highest yield rather than the highest economic yield.
There is always the subset that isn't happy unless they can blow away the
competition in the ubiquitous highest bushel club
contests<http://southeastfarmpress.com/mag/farming_north_carolina_announces_4/>.
The opportunity to be looked up to as a pioneer will influence also.  In the
industrial world, these are the farmers who are going to be among the first
looking to get their hands on that very limited supply of biochar.  The
majority of farmers I know are pretty tight with the purse strings. But it
costs nothing for them to read about how the bushel club winners got there,
to discuss it down at the coffee shop, to dream on how to build on that
experience.

I don't doubt that high bushel club dreams is influencing demand for biochar
("biochar the potential to raise high yield rates of corn
another 20%" (PDF)<http://www.biochar-international.org/images/Renner_2007_EST.pdf>).
So Lou, I am sure you are correct in the big picture view, but like you
said, the devil is in the details.

Sean: I think you are spot on.  It is absolutely conceivable that we already
have allies within their ranks. -phil

>
> there can an must also be much lower tech and decentralized approaches for
> the much poorer rural areas as well but done in a very different way.
>
> i feel it must be both.
>
> On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 4:57 PM, Sean K. Barry <sean.barry at juno.com>
> wrote:
>
>>  Hello TP readers,
>>
>> Some think that *we should vastly curtail or even STOP emitting fossil
>> carbon as CO2*.
>>
>
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