Linking Local Food and Forests: Making the Connection with Bio-Char

Linking Local Food and Forests: Making the Connection with Bio-Char

Summary

1. Describe in detail your work activities and how you used your grant funds this year.

Fabricated charcoal kiln after initial research and acquiring input and advice from experienced producer

Experimented with charcoal production and fine-tuned preferred method
Provided charcoal samples to food consumers to gather feedback on preferences related to charcoal characteristics and packaging

Developed demonstration area to showcase sustainable woodland management coupled with small-batch charcoal production.

Presented about the project at two woodland owner workshops and exhibited about natural hardwood charcoal at major regional event

2. List the results of your project and what you have learned so far

Local food consumers appear to have keen interest in locally-produced hardwood lump charcoal

Wood inputs must be dry in order to produce charcoal in a timely manner and resulting in minimal emissions of smoke.

Of the two primary methods of small-batch charcoal production (direct and indirect) the indirect method is preferred, since it does not produce ash, making it easier to sort. The indirect method also enables volatile gases to be re-burned in order to contribute the heat necessary for production; again providing an opportunity to reduce emissions from production.

3. Describe your work plan for next year

Continue to produce small-batch charcoal and refine production methods, including sorting and packaging.

Develop marketing materials in initiate promotional initiative to generate base of food consumers interested in supporting project; and test out the product and marketing materials at farmer’s market settings.

Work with local gardeners and small farmer to gain understanding of potential yield increases attributable to bio-char inputs.

Organize and host field days to highlight forest improvement practices and ways to produce products such as charcoal from “light touch” forestry practices.

Conduct additional demonstration forestry improvement practices and on-site kiln production of charcoal.

Produce a detailed report of our experiences with this research that will highlight our successes and document our failures in charcoal production, so that others can carry these efforts forward with our experiences serving as a resource.

4. How did you share information from your project with others? What plans do you have for sharing information next year?

We have shared product information at workshops and forestry field days. For example, we partnered with Rural Action, a regional, member based citizen advocacy organization to highlight charcoal production at a field say related to low impact forestry techniques and equipment, and included a lunch of grilled local foods using our small batch hardwood charcoal. That event was attended by over 30 landowners and other supporters.

We also presented about charcoal production at two workshops, one at the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest and another at the monthly meeting of the Southeast Ohio Woodland Interest Group. We exhibited at a major regional festival, the Ohio Pawpaw Festival, where we interfaced with hundreds of consumers and dozens of potential producers. We just completed a workshop related to woodland management; demonstrating how thinned trees from a forest improvement practice can be used for on-site charcoal production.

We will focus more for the balance of this grant period on promotion and information sharing, both with consumers, as well as other prospective producers. This builds on our project to date, which focused more on the production side. We will also be ramping up our efforts to share information about woodland management and how its possible to undertake active work while producing value-added products such as charcoal in order to generate on-farm revenue.

We have two additional field workshops planned and will also continue to share information in more informal ways such as one on one conversations and presentations at meetings of farm and woodland owners. We will continue to generate consumer feedback by exhibiting at farmers markets.

We are now identifying field test sites to add our biochar to agricultural products to determine if and two what extend the use of biochar as a soil amendment impacts plant growth and yield. We hope to have number out row to row comparison planting; one with biochar; one without; otherwise equal, to best see if there are noticeable differences in a first year’s use of biochar as a soil amendment.

We are also intending to offer lump charcoal for sale at farmer market settings, including demos using the charcoal to grill locally produced meat and vegetables offered for sale by agricultural producers also vending at these markets.
It is our desire to produce a detailed report that documents our experiences with this research and production. Our hope is that others can learn from our successes and failures to be able to replicate and build upon our efforts.