Scott Booher’s Four Winds Farm began in April 2020 to amend their soil with compost and biochar to improve soil carbon content (increase organic matter) nutrient availability, structure, and biology. ARTi is assisting in this ongoing effort with soil analysis, biochar and compost analysis, and preparation, monitoring as well as the application. To add to this, the carbon sequestration levels anticipated at Scott’s farm through ARTi’s biochar show great promise. Essentially, the project is about the integration of biochar to improve soil quality and likewise, with the added compost.

In 2019 a team of Iowa State University engineering students including former ARTi interns Joseph Sabas and Denver Robak sought to help address the problems of wastewater treatment experienced by the small town of Rinard, Iowa. The tiny town of Rinard with a population of 50 citizens faces a confluence of challenges as do many such towns in the US and elsewhere. First of all, a projected continued population exodus does not bode well for future town revenues. Secondly, regulations regarding wastewater treatment have become more stringent and are predicted to continue to be so. Additionally, the existing system is over 30 years old and has not been actively maintained during this time. Correspondingly, an updated system would also have to be passive requiring little or no active maintenance as the town lacks both the people and the financial resources. Lastly, the improvements to the wastewater treatment system faced legal time deadlines and environmental stewardship concerns which were also important to the community and the student engineering team.

In 2019 a team of Iowa State University engineering students including former ARTi interns Joseph Sabas and Denver Robak sought to help address the problems of wastewater treatment experienced by the small town of Rinard, Iowa. The tiny town of Rinard with a population of 50 citizens faces a confluence of challenges as do many such towns in the US and elsewhere. First of all, a projected continued population exodus does not bode well for future town revenues. Secondly, regulations regarding wastewater treatment have become more stringent and are predicted to continue to be so. Additionally, the existing system is over 30 years old and has not been actively maintained during this time. Correspondingly, an updated system would also have to be passive requiring little or no active maintenance as the town lacks both the people and the financial resources. Lastly, the improvements to the wastewater treatment system faced legal time deadlines and environmental stewardship concerns which were also important to the community and the student engineering team.

Dr. Aller has been engaged in unique and relevant work in Suffolk County, Long Island examining if biochar can contribute to increasing nutrient availability and soil water retention, and decreasing leaching losses in field and container nursery production. The field experiments were conducted at a privet nursery and a Christmas tree farm in 2019 with another privet nursery to be added in 2020. The hardwood biochar was provided by ARTiChar. The California Privet and Douglas Fir Christmas trees were chosen as they are prone to nutrient management concerns that have yet to be fully addressed by conventional methods. Dr. Aller, her colleague Mina Vescera, and their partnering nursery growers will be monitoring treatment differences via soil moisture and water potential sensors, lysimeter collected leachate samples, and soil, foliar, and roots samples. The project is ongoing, with funding until 2022, and we are looking forward to hearing about the progress. Deborah and us at ARTi are excited to see how the biochar addition contributes to nutrient availability, uptake and soil water retention in nursery crop production.

The City of Des Moines, Iowa and the tree planting and forestry advocacy non-profit Trees Forever represented by their member Kerri Sorrell recently partnered with ARTi for a biochar and tree planting project right in the middle of urban Des Moines. When passing through the cities or suburbs, whether by foot or bicycle along those long and often empty sidewalks most of us take little notice of the small plots of earth where one tree is planted apiece. Cumulatively, the effect is a good one. The avenues all lined with trees and when they grow a bit larger the positive difference does become apparent. However, what if these small plots of urban soil and the associated saplings could become part of the carbon sequestration effort? Furthermore, what if the trees themselves could become much more robust and healthier due to such an effort?

A topic in biochar that ARTi has been interested in along with many others in the biochar field is the potential for the substance’s use in animal feed. The health of the animal products, the surrounding environment and the animal themselves has been demonstrated to have been positively affected by the addition to biochar to their feed. Furthermore, the potential for biochar’s addition to animal feed to reduce the impact of CO2 emission in animal farming shows exciting possibilities as well (Using biochar in animal farming to recycle nutrients and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Hans-Peter Schmidt, Kelpie Wilson, and Claudia Kammann, Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 19,EGU General Assembly 2017) Link to conference paper.