Whole-farm biochar system boosts productivity, stores carbon, cuts inputs and emissions

"Manjimup [Western Australia] farmer Doug Pow has discovered how to store carbon in the soil, reduce methane emissions from his cattle and improve the productivity of his whole farm...‘Everyone who comes to see this won’t plant an avocado tree without biochar now—the difference is that convincing,’ Doug said. Leaf tests also show the biochar is also somehow reducing the amount of chloride the trees take on from irrigation water. ‘I’m changing the physical structure of the soil, and for a plant that grows for 50 years, you’d want it in a good base to begin with,’ Doug said. ‘Biochar is not expensive and it’s not like a fertiliser that is gone each year, it’s in there for thousands of years.’ ‘They are huge trees; some will set 300–400 fruit a year when they are 4 years old." Read more at: http://www.wantfa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/WANTFA_NF_Summer2015_Biochar-002.pdf