Letter from the Executive Director

That’s a wrap on the 2025 North American Biochar Conference!

The event surpassed my expectations in so many ways. The content was top-notch, the exhibit hall showed an industry on the rise, and the networking was as good as it gets. I came away more energized than ever about the potential of biochar — as a
technology, as an industry, and as a way to turn waste into value. Thank you to all who attended and helped make this event a success. Over the next few weeks we will be making all of the presentations freely available on Youtube, so keep an eye out for announcements.

Looking forward, the next few months are shaping up to be just as busy as the past few here at the US Biochar Initiative. Tera Lewandowski, our Director of Agricultural Markets, will be leading the first in-person event in our Train the Trainer series this December in California. These free events will focus on providing practical information on biochar as a soil amendment to agricultural professionals - crop advisors, NRCS staff, conservation districts, cooperative extension, and more. For my part, I’ll be focused on getting our USBI / ANSI Standard for the Analysis of Biochar over the finish line, and then quickly jumping in to develop a “do-no-harm” end-use standard for the use of biochar. This next standard will provide guidance for physical biochar applications to ensure biochar is applied safely and responsibly, with protections against both real and perceived risks.

I’ll also be working to finish our Guidance Manual for Biochar in Stormwater Management with Center for Watershed Protection. I’m also working on lining up similar efforts to develop practitioner-targeted guidance manuals for landscape architects, landscaping and tree care professionals, ecosystem and river restoration professionals, and more.

Myles Gray
Executive Director