Better Agriculture through...Charcoal? (broadcast Friday, April 11th, 2008)

The raw materials involved in the production of biochar. Courtesy of Mingxin Guo.

Researchers presenting work at the American Chemical Society meeting say that adding charcoal to soil may provide a big boost to agriculture. Adding charcoal called 'biochar' to soil, say Mingxin Guo and colleagues, could be "a revolutionary approach for long-term soil quality improvement," providing more benefits than adding compost or manure. The process could also provide a way of sequestering carbon captured from carbon dioxide emissions. In this segment, Ira talks to Guo about the technique, which Guo says was used over 1500 years ago in the Amazon basin. Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.