Happy New Year!  We are off to a strong start to 2025 at USBI, and we’re feeling optimistic about growing markets for biochar, hosting our annual conference in September, and better supporting the biochar industry. 

We will also be changing as an organization — growing our team, leading a full rebrand for USBI, and rebuilding our website. We’ll have updates on those changes over the next few months, but we hope to lay the groundwork for USBI to have an increased impact and reach.

In the near term, we are really excited to launch industry roundtable events to better coordinate with and serve the biochar industry, and you can find more details on that effort below. 

For my part, I’ll be presenting at two key events in the next month focused on growing agricultural demand for biochar — as a soil amendment and as biochar enhanced fertilizers. First, I’ l be presenting alongside Kristin Trippe, PhD. (USDA ARS) at the National Association of Conservation Districts Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT February 11, 2025. We’ll focus on improving understanding of biochar and NRCS programs among Conservation Districts and others, and we’ll also be looking to recruit partners for Train the Trainer events that we hope to hold starting Fall 2025!

After that, I’ l be in New Orleans, LA February 17-18, 2025 at the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials Annual Meeting. AAPFCO plays a key role in developing state and federal regulations for fertilizers and soil amendments, and I’l be focused on inserting biochar into those regulations and also on making sure our upcoming American National Standard for biochar meets AAPFCO requirements.

Myles Gray
Executive Director