Turning carbon footprints into healthy soils

Dear friends,

The first phase of our bio-char project, Turning carbon footprints into healthy soil, has been successfully funded, and successfully completed!  If you've had a chance to look at past project reports, you have a sense of what the impact potential for using charcoal agriculturally can be.

So in honor of hitting our first fundraising milestone of $10,000 (Thank You!), here's a bit about where we're at and where we came from...

1. Bio-char test plots-- We've planted several test plots of bio-char enriched soils in order to show proof of concept at a regional level and expose our farmer neighbors to the potential of bio-char.  Familiar Amazonian crops like corn and yuca (cassava) have been given the bio-char treatment with glowing results in even the most degraded soils.

2. Establishment of bio-char material "forests"-- Because bio-char is literally charred biomass, we've taken great strides to establishing sources of raw material as future char input so that we will be able to produce bio-char without affecting wild forests or biomass better left untouched.  After extensive research in the literature, we opted for bamboo as the ultimate bio-char source material-- fast growing, infinitely renewable, and secuesters more CO2 per kilo than even hardwood trees.  Additionally, our chosen local bamboo varieties are clumping types, meaning no worries about invasive runner roots taking over the neighbors' yard.  We have planted thousands of bamboo clumps, now over a year old and beginning to thrive in production of mature shoots (see photo below).

3. Research in input materials-- In addition to planting bio-char input forests of bamboo, we've identified additional sources of raw material for the production of bio-char: materials that would otherwise be burnt or dumped in rivers such as sawdust from the region's many sawmills and brazil nut shells left as a waste product from the significant brazil nut processing facilities in our region.  We've found over a dozen partners willing to provide us with these otherwise-would-be-trash source materials.

4. Research into bio-char best practices for our region of the Amazon-- There are many different ways to produce charcoal, and not all are created equal.  For example, some new technologies release 75% less methane than traditional charcoal-making techniques.  After extensive research in the literature, we've opted for our favorite bio-char production system: the Adam Retort charcoal oven.  The Adam Retort makes using a variety of materials simple, and the "retort" part means the oven is self-fueling, reducing waste and combustion of input materials.  The next chapter of this project will involve the actual construction of our first Adam Retort oven.  Future community ovens to come!

We are so grateful for your help in creating charcoal that has secuestered over 40 metric tons of carbon so far, and in so doing improving and enriching fragile Amazonian soils.

Warm greetings from the Peruvian Amazon,