Q What got you started with biochar?
A I grew up on a dairy farm in Iowa. When I was young, my father started a cattle breeding and genetics business offering artificial insemination services to other farmers. I headed off to college, but two years later, my dad was injured and couldn’t work, so I came home to help with the business. Eventually, I took over the business and built it up to become the largest independent beef genetics company in the US and sold the business in 1999. I became a real estate broker here in Missouri until the 2008 slump and was having lunch with a friend who knew I was looking for an alternative. “Biochar,” he said, “is an up and coming thing.” He was an engineer working on emissions from charcoal kilns, which is a big industry in Missouri. He knew the value of carbon and that I was interested in soil. It sounded interesting so I spent a few months doing research and trying biochar out in my garden soil. I could see the value of it with my own eyes, and I got hooked.
Q What was your first step to build your biochar business?
A I started going to Mother Earth News fairs and similar events and sold buckets of biochar. The organic farming community were the first farmers to recognize the benefits. Early on, I was fortunate to meet David Yarrow, a leader in the organic farming movement in New York. We integrated biochar into the organic farming world. Other groups that really understand the value of soil carbon are our Amish and Mennonite farmers. High-value horticulture growers crops also get it.
Q What products do you offer now?
A Our registered brand is called Terra-Char and we source the biochar very carefully to maintain high quality. All of our trademarked Terra-Char products have a minimum of 76% fixed carbon. Terra Char products come in five-gallon buckets, 1.66 cubic yard totes and bulk semi-truck-loads. We have 1-2 cubic foot bags coming soon. We also distribute soil amendments that work really well with biochar - humates, rock dust and organic nitrogen.
Q What's your approach to get farmers to try biochar?
A We start by selling them enough to try in their gardens and orchards. They can see the value there, and then they can integrate it into their farmland. We spend a lot of time on the phone helping clients understand how to apply biochar effectively so that it pays for itself in the first year. For every successful customer we get, we know we will get another one – or three. Word of mouth works with farmers.
Q What other biochar markets are you getting into?
A We're doing a lot with water filtration, storm
water, and bioremediation. We sell biochar to large composting operations and it really improves their product. We also work with CAFO (Confined Animal Feed Operations) farms that see a lot of benefit using biochar in bedding to control ammonia and retain nitrogen in composted manure. Again, it's the smaller independent farmers who will try this. It's not easy for big corporate franchise CAFO operations to change their practices. Biochar in animal feed has a good future, currently in the early adoption phase.
Q We find that most of the biochar production is in the northwest and southeast, where the wood products industry is concentrated. But most of the end users are in the midwest where you are. How are you addressing this gap?
A I started another company called Energy Americas Solutions to provide combined heat and biochar (CHAB) equipment. There are a lot of small sawmills scattered around the Midwest that have woody residuals to burn and a need for heat to dry lumber. We work with equipment manufacturers to identify the best technologies and then represent those technologies to customers. If they buy equipment from us, we can often provide off-take agreements for the char and help them develop local markets. There is lots of good biochar territory in the midwest to open up!
Q What’s next for you?
A We are getting interested in carbon credits for biochar. I’m still trying to learn how it works but it could have a lot of potential. People are too complacent about the future. The heat waves we are experiencing are starting to have a real impact. Biochar is the right thing for the planet and people. It can help provide us with food and energy security. People need to make the effort to understand it. My personal goal is to keep building this business so it is attractive to younger people who can take it over and make it an even bigger success.