How can we scale biochar production to meet the growing problem of biomass waste in the United States? I have been asking myself that question more and more over the past year.
The scale of the challenge is enormous. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates the country generates roughly 450 million dry tons of waste biomass each year, much of it landfilled, burned, or left to decompose. Forestry and wood residues, agricultural byproducts, manure, biosolids, and the organic fraction of municipal waste are significant components, and they can all be turned into biochar.
Wood waste was front and center at the recent Markets Matter Convening hosted by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, where the conversation kept returning to the familiar point that feedstock supply is not the challenge. For biochar, the challenge is developing markets for the material.
This lines up with our core focus at American Biochar Institute to develop standards and markets for biochar, building the durable demand that gives producers a reason to scale. But the challenge is bigger than biochar markets and much bigger than any single organization. Scaling biochar will take companies, researchers, governments, and end users working together. That points to our continuing role as a convener for the sector.
Convening the sector has always been central to our work, most visibly through the annual North American Biochar Conference, which brings the full biochar ecosystem together each year. Beyond that, we are working on building out our work bringing together the industry, researchers, end-users and others.
Over the past year we held four in-person Growing with Biochar training events, with more planned for this summer and fall in Washington and Oregon. These sessions deliver practical, technically grounded training for farmers and agricultural professionals.
We are also launching an effort to support regional biochar networks that can bring ABI’s guidance and technical support closer to the people working on regional problems. We will pilot the approach in the Mid-Atlantic, and we plan to partner with both new and established groups around the country to expand our reach and support those doing the work on the ground.
Finally, we are working on launching a new and improved version of our industry directory to help connect players within the biochar space and in other industries.
We will only be able to build a lasting biochar industry in the United States by working together, and ABI is committed to helping support that effort.
Myles Gray, P.E.
Executive Director
American Biochar Institute
