We recently attended a biochar workshop held in Elmore Victoria, Australia. The 2 day event run by the Kyneton Transition Hub and Bendigo Sustainability Group attracted a diverse crowd with a range of experience in the production and use of biochar.

Dr Stephen Joseph and Dr Paul Taylor ran proceedings and shared their knowledge. Attendees were treated to some of the latest findings in biochar research as well as some “hands on” practical experience in the making of biochar mixes, types of kilns and ways to make biochar, end uses and the benefits of biochar as a soil conditioner/fertiliser.

Biochar is an interesting topic in Australia, the benefits have not been proven to mainstream agriculture as yet and until it is, biochar wont be taken seriously. So far, it’s been the increasing number of small producers and groups like Kyneton and Bendigo that have been spreading the word and sharing the knowledge.

I must give my thanks to the organisers of this event. The hospitality shown was awesome, there was great food and plenty of it, good company (and a couple of beers) around the campfire on the Sat night and a warm swag and tent to keep the Elmore chill out during the night. Thanks very much guys!

Energy Farmers Overview

We are  working with stakeholders to ramp up the bioenergy industry in Australia. Our view is that we need to build the confidence of farmers and feedstock suppliers in bioenergy technology, develop biomass supply chains and ultimately be in a position to supply large amounts of biomass to future bioenergy and biofuels projects across Australia.

For now we are developing small on site solutions that use wastes resources to produce power. See some of our bioenergy projects or  Contact us to learn more.

See our presentation below.

Biomass projects are complex, needing a lot of different aspects to come together to ensure project success. Financing these projects is an issue, long development times mean that investors get fatigued and look for alternatives. To really ramp up the industry these issues need to be ironed out, policy that fast track project development would also help.

In the future supply chains will be crucial, feedstock supply, harvesting, handling and transport will need to be solid to provide the large amounts of biomass that these projects will need. We are working to build the capacity of farmers so they are in a position to do this when the opportunity arises.

See our slideshow presentation below to see some more information or contact us to learn more.

As part of Energy Farmers Australia’s vision to see biochar integrated in Australian farming systems, we are looking at the options to get biochar back into the soil in Australian agricultural systems.

Biochar is hard to handle, it can be powdery in which case it does not spread well. It also takes a lot of processing to get it into a form (granulation and pelletising) that can utilise farmers existing equipment.

While char does not spread well, it will be an option in broad acre cropping systems where farmers are using mouldboard ploughs to reduce the impact of non wetting sands and resistant weeds. Spreading the char and then ploughing will bury the char up to 400mm underground and looks to be a very simple yet effective way to incorporate the biochar through an existing operation. Spreading and ploughing will work well on sandy soils however will not be applicable on soils that mouldboard ploughs cannot be used. So we need to look at other options.

We have teamed up with Wayne Phillips and his new machine the New Horizon Subsoiler Extruder. Subsoiling involves adding a medium (e.g. water) to biomass, in this case char and deep banding it into the soil. The subsoiler can handle a range of biomass from manures to straw and will open up myriad of opportunities to blend char with different feedstocks, potentially offering an alternative to traditional fertilisers.

While the subsoiler is still in development stage we are very excited about its potential. We will be trialling the subsoiler this season with biochar and other forms of biomass.

Here’s a sneak peak of what it can do, stay tuned for updates.

http://youtu.be/A2l57g44sxU