The Potential of Biochar
Oral Presentation

The Next Level: Scaling the biochar market by educating carbon-smart customers on the importance of char quality and product capabilities in order to build economically viable soil carbon inventories
Fernando Migliassi
The Biochar Impact Company, Miami & Philadelphia, U.S.

From the business team that brought you the EcoTechnologies Group, The Biochar Company and Soil Reef branded products; Fernando Migliassi, Jeff Wallin, Doug Guyer and “Biochar Bob” Cirino bring you The Biochar Impact Company.

While today’s gold rush-like focus on biochar production facilities is exciting and an important part of the industry’s evolution, it is our contention that the biochar story only works if the biochar successfully goes into the ground. And likewise, biochar-derived carbon credits only work if biochar ultimately goes into ground. As such, it is our company’s mission to advance the adoption of biochar and get tons of biochar into the ground while simultaneously accomplishing the end-users objectives.

Since our entry into the biochar market in 2008, we’ve seen the 2020’s usher in the present evolution of biochar as “climate-smart agriculture”. Our aim is to take the next step in this journey by guiding clients to become carbon-savvy customers.

In order to scale the market to megaton and then gigaton levels of product utilization, our Biochar Value Creation Model takes two key components: 1) Price (per unit (e.g. ton)), 2) Quantity (adjusting for water and ash) and hones in on the third and critical product characteristic 3) Quality – as measured by Adsorption, Bulk Density, and coupled with the subsequent correlation to cation exchange capacity, water and nutrient uptake, among others. Couple this with the carbon credit market’s focus on Permanence (as measured by the H:C molar ratio) and the end-user/client can calculate how the adoption of biochar will help them Increase Revenue, Reduce Costs and Mitigate Risk / Improve Resilience by building, and quantifying, their soil’s carbon inventory.

To borrow from my past life in the money management business, in 1830 Justice Samuel Putnam of Massachusetts wrote the Prudent Man Rule, a legal principle that has guided money managers ever since: "Those with the responsibility to invest money for others should act with prudence, discretion, intelligence and regard for the safety of capital as well as for income."

In our industry, we may not be fiduciaries per se, but we are co-stewards of the land, water and air and prudently guiding our clients to fully understand the quality of their biochar, re-configure their portfolio of assets (land, crops, etc.) and expenses (water, fertilizer, etc.), will go a long way towards measurably driving predictability, scalability and performance – and yes, Impact.