Friday, April 11th, 2008

Better Agriculture through...Charcoal?

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.

Guests

Mingxin Guo
Assistant Professor, Agriculture and Natural Resources Department
Delaware State University
Dover, Delaware

Related Links

• 'Black gold agriculture' may revolutionize farming, curb global warming
• Discover: Black Gold of the Amazon
• Rethinking biochar

Segment produced by:Karin Vergoth

Friday, April 11th, 2008

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