The Beauty of Biochar for Agriculture is in Its Naturalness
Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced through the pyrolysis of organic feedstocks, such as wood, crop residues, or manure, under limited oxygen conditions. This process creates a stable form of carbon that can be added to soil to improve its health and fertility. As an ag operator you’re interested in how to get the best return on your investment, the highest yield and the most nutrients in your crops with the least inputs. We understand and our biochar products are concentrated so you get more bang for your buck.
Key Points
- Not all biochars are the same, feedstock and pyrolysis method make a difference
- Southern Pine wood is a good feedstock for biochar because of its high porosity
- Biochar has many benefits for your soil and healthy plant growth
- Freshwater humates as a charging agent produce a high-quality biochar blend
However, not all biochars are created equal; the type of feedstock and the specific pyrolysis process used can result in variations in biochar’s physical and chemical properties. These differences can impact its effectiveness in various agricultural applications, making it essential to select the right biochar for your intended use.
You Can Enhance Your Soil Health with Wood Biochar
Using biochar as a soil amendment means using the correct biochar blend. Biochar alone is a storage area for nutrients and a home for microbes. But without the right organic matter adding nutrients into the biochar, you’ll wait 2-3 years 
before you see a benefit. We want you to see improved soil health in 2-3 weeks, that’s why we’ve done a great deal of experiments and determined that’s why we’ve done a great deal of experiments and determined fresh water humates give the best results – in all situations.
What kinds of benefits will you see in a few short weeks?
Improved Soil Structure and Porosity
Biochar improves soil structure by creating a network of tiny spaces that can retain water, air, nutrients, and microbes. This improves soil aeration so plant roots access oxygen more easily for healthier root development. Improving the porosity in clay soils improves water drainage, and in sandy soils helps retain water. The poorer your soil, the more you need biochar. (1)
Your soil will get that wonderful crumbly texture that earthworms and beneficial microbes love. In essence, biochar acts like a sponge and a structural support, holding onto essential resources while creating a more hospitable environment for both plants and soil organisms. When you’ve got an effective nutrient cycling system with microorganisms, water, and nutrient ions, you increase the fertility of your soil.
Contact us to find out how our biochar blend products will improve your soil
Boost Crop Yields and Nutrient-Density with Our Biochar Blends
That enhanced soil fertility and nutrient availability boosts crop yields and increases nutrient density without the need for chemical inputs. The porous structure of soil with biochar acts like a reservoir, retaining water and nutrients that otherwise leach away.
When we blend, or charge, our Yellow Pine biochar with freshwater sourced humates, it acts as a slow-release fertilizer, providing a steady stream of nutrients over time. The nutrient ions stored in the biochar pores are available throughout the life cycle of your crops. The pH of your soil is often a limiting factor in nutrient accessibility. The pH value of our VITAL Blend is just below 7.0, making it perfect for soil nutrient availability.
This not only improves crop yield, but enhances the nutrient density of the crop, resulting in a higher quality product and a higher farm ROI. By creating a more stable and nutrient-rich soil environment, biochar helps plants thrive, leading to improved ag productivity and better quality harvests.
Are You Considering Carbon Sequestration as a Second Revenue Stream?
Then start by finding a reputable carbon credit company and have your carbon measured before you put any biochar on your fields. You need to prove “additionality.” (that’s another read – watch for it in the future). The bottom line – poor soil with biochar added gives you carbon credits.
The process of pyrolyzing, burning in the absence of oxygen, organic matter to create biochar sequesters carb
on. In our Yellow Pine biochar, the carbon is recalcitrant and more resistant to decomposition. The carbon that microbes decompose is active, or labile, and is an important part of the nutrient cycle, but not part of carbon sequestration.
Fixed, or recalcitrant carbon is very stable and when used with no-till agricultural practices sequesters carbon in the soil for thousands of years. The type of feedstock and pyrolysis process determines the quality of the carbon credits you may receive. (2) This is a developing field, and we know biochar does more than just store carbon in your soil.
The environmental services of our biochar blends expand far beyond carbon to include remediating many forms of soil contamination.
Remediate Toxic Pesticides and Contaminants in Your Fields with Biochar
Biochar reduces environmental pollution in fields by adsorbing and immobilizing nitrates, pesticides, and heavy metals. When these contaminants are bound up in the porous structure of biochar, they aren’t available for uptake by your crops. Contamination in the food chain from heavy metals is a growing concern. Adding biochar with a highly porous structure creates a hospitable environment for 
microbes that aid in the removal of heavy metals and toxic pesticides from your fields. (3)_
The adsorption process also helps to mitigate the leaching of nitrates into groundwater and the runoff of herbicides and pesticides into nearby water bodies. Too many rural wells are testing high for nitrates. Farm chemicals that leach out of the soil pose an environmental risk, and a human health risk.
By creating a more stable and less toxic soil environment, biochar enhances soil health while contributing to environmental protection.
All These Benefits But is Biochar Cost Effective?
Biochar production can be an assembly line operation, or it can be part of a bigger mission of testing and evaluating feedstocks, organic materials, and effects on specific soil types. We have been testing ingredients for the best results in a biochar blend since 20123, over 11 years, The synergies created when you get the right ingredients together is far greater than the sum of the parts.
Key Points
- With biochar you improve water holding capacity and need less irrigation. On dryland farms your crops are more resilient to drought
- With VITAL Blend you need less fertilizer because the microbes in the soil are cycling nutrients to your plants for FREE
- The economic benefits are there for both small-scale and large-scale agricultural operations
- You can achieve first-year increase in profits while priming your soil for long term benefits
First of all, remember there are many different grades of biochar. When you’re looking at cost/acre you need to ask some questions.
- What is the application rate?
- What is in the biochar besides carbon?
- How will adding biochar impact the other aspects of my farming routine?
- What have been the results from other farmers?
We have found that freshwater-sourced humates from naturally occurring humic shale (ancient, decomposed plant life) as the “charging agent” is immediately bioavailable to soil biota. That means you will see a return on your investment in Year #1 of your soil amendment program.
With our VITAL Blend biochar you will need less fertilizer, less irrigation, and fewer pesticides. The soil porosity that is a benefit of biochar creates healthy soil. When earthworms and other beneficial microorganisms take up residence in the plant root zone (rhizosphere), there is little room for pathogens or disease-causing fungi. Healthy soil leads to healthy plants. Insects aren’t drawn to healthy plants so there is less insect damage, higher nutrient values, and a higher ROI for the entire farm.
The economic benefits are there for small-scale and large-scale farmers. With our VITAL Blend biochar, liquid and granular, you don’t need any new equipment. Although with the cost savings and higher revenue, you can buy that new piece of farm equipment that you’ve been looking at.
The Question: What are the Results? Our Field Trials
Blueberry farm: We compared the nutrient content of harvested blueberries treated with our VITAL Blend 5M and found an increase in antioxidants (11%), dietary fiber (33%), sugar (3.1%), and protein (125%). These results were from plants receiving only one application of VITAL Blend 5M Soil amendments. The application rate used for our 5-micron sized biochar blended with liquid humate was 1.5-2.0 gal/acre.
Hops Field Trials: We applied VITAL Blend granular and VITAL Blend 5M liquid soil amendments to young hop plants in a couple of rows on a demo plot. We top-dressed the granular applications near the base of the plants and then used a backpack unit filled with the VITAL Blend 5M liquid to saturate the soil around other plants.
At harvest time, it was very clear which plants received the soil amendments compared to the untreated hops. The treated hops plants were more robust; they had darker leaves and larger strobiles (flower heads). This is similar to what we are seeing in other crops, such as Blueberries, Green Peppers, Chestnuts, and Potatoes.
How Do You Integrate Biochar into Your Farm Practices?
Give us a call. We will come out and use our probe to see what condition your soil is in. Then it’s a matter of determining your goals and how quickly you want to flip the switch on your low soil fertility.
Our liquid and granular biochar products charged with humates don’t require special equipment. The liquid VITAL Blend 5M can be applied with your spray equipment. Our products are charged with living soil, and it wouldn’t be advisable to use your pesticide spray equipment unless it is rigorously cleaned. Pesticides and fungicides kill the good guys (microorganisms) at the same time they’re killing the bad guys (pathogens).
Achieve First Year Benefits and Long-Term Soil Improvements with Biochar
Improve your soil health, increase crop yields, and enhance nutrient retention with our VITAL Blend biochar product. Our biochar, single sourced from Yellow Pine, has a higher porosity than many other biochar products from other feedstocks. That porous structure enhances soil aeration and water holding capacity, reduces the need for frequent irrigation, and minimizes nutrient leaching.
It also supports beneficial microbial activity, promoting nutrient cycling and soil fertility. Biochar sequesters carbon and helps to mitigate climate change. The inert carbon remains in the soil for hundreds of years while the active carbon from our freshwater sourced humates feed microbial populations that feed your crops. 
To effectively incorporate biochar into your farming practices, start by asking questions and then choosing the right biochar product for your soil conditions and crop needs.
Apply biochar at the recommended rate. You can use too much of a good thing and lose all the economic and environmental benefits. Biochar has to be combined with organic material to “charge” it and our humates give the most consistent results.
By integrating biochar into your management strategies, you can achieve long-term improvement in soil health, crop productivity, and environmental sustainability. And you don’t have to wait years, you’ll see a marked improvement in soil health and your ROI the first year.
Increase your short-term ROI while enhancing your soil’s long-term benefits with VITAL Blend
