Thanks for Helping USBI and NRCS promote the use of Biochar and Compost to Improve Soil Health

We want to thank you for supporting the USBI application to demonstrate  the new NRCS cost-share activity that can help pay for biochar application on farms. We expect to hear results of our application later this year. An NRCS grant would to speed up the implementation of this new practice by supporting on-farm biochar demonstration projects and case studies. Please read below for more information on the new program. 

NRCS Soil Carbon Amendment Practice Code 808. The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Soil Health Program has introduced Soil Carbon Amendment practice 808 which will allow farmers to receive cost share funds for using biochar and compost to increase soil carbon. Cost share funds will be made available through the $1.8 billion Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) which provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to address natural resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits such as improved water and air quality, conserved ground and surface water, increased soil health and reduced soil erosion and sedimentation, improved or created wildlife habitat, and mitigation against increasing weather volatility. Ten states, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii and the Pacific Basin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Utah have already adopted the Soil Carbon Amendment (808) conservation practice. Other states have indicated an intent to adopt the practice as it is rolled out during 2020-2021. Here is a link to the practice document: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lTxStXMI51473SjYKrk8jAGmsC6Ed5KA

USBI wants to assist the rollout and adoption of the program by providing incentive funds for farmers to use biochar and biochar amended compost through the NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant for On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials.

USBI has applied for an NRCS grant to develop a five-year farm demonstration project in which cooperating farms would apply biochar or biochar and compost on a small acreage for five years. This will be a side-by-side demonstration, not a fully replicated scientific trial. The grant would subsidize the delivery of biochar to the participating farmers.

The farmer would apply the biochar or biochar-compost in the most appropriate way for their soils and crops following the guidelines of the Soil Carbon Amendment (808) conservation practice. Typical applications might include: use of biochar with nutrient sources at 400-1000 lbs per acre in pre-till or strip tillage of corn or soybeans; 400 lbs of biochar with 1600 lbs of compost for application at 1-2 tons per acre in vineyards, orchards and row crops; or deep banding of biochar at 1-10 tons per acre when seeding grains. A Missouri corn and soybean farmer has increased soil carbon from less than 1% to more than 4% by strategically applying small amounts of biochar in seed rows each year for five years which has resulted in improved quality and yield. Ten dry tons applied to the top 6 inches of one acre will increase soil carbon by 1% which would increase water retention by approximately 26,000 gallons.