On-Farm Biochar Production and Use with Manure Composting

A 2015 USDA-NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant to UBET (Umpqua Biochar Education Team) is helping a group of farmers in Oregon make biochar from waste wood to use in manure management. A dozen farmers have enrolled in the program and they made a total of 12 cubic yards of biochar during the 2015-2016 burn season, using simple flame cap kilns designed by Wilson Biochar Associates and manufactured by the Umpqua Community College welding department. Volunteers from UBET have been helping the farmers with biochar production and setting up composting systems to better utilize the nutrients in livestock waste. The program runs until 2017 and will undertake both pot trials and field trials with the resulting biochar compost. The final program deliverable will be a series of guideline documents to share the knowledge gained by the farmers and volunteers.