Landscape Board Fuelling Interest in Biochar: Upcoming Lameroo Workshop
Land managers across the Murraylands and Riverland are invited to attend a free workshop to find how biochar can be used to improve soil health.
The event will be held on-farm at Lameroo on Tuesday 27 August and include live demonstration of a biochar kiln, weather permitting. Operated by Maccy Biochar, the kiln will be used to burn organic, on-farm waste at a high temperature in a low oxygen environment.
The result is biochar – a stable form of carbon that looks like charcoal. When added to the soil, it offers a host of beneficial properties including improving soil fertility, crop yields and water retention while also reducing soil acidity and storing carbon.
Landscape board Soil Extension Officer Barrie Williams said that there is growing interest in farm-scale biochar among land managers in the region.
“We’ve seen a lot of recent interest in biochar from land managers, particularly those involved in cropping and horticulture”.
“One of the advantages of biochar is the ability for land managers to be able to produce it on-farm, using organic waste as the input. It’s therefore almost free to make and offers a host of benefits when applied to soils,” he added.
Research from the United States has shown that biochar offers an additional benefit to acidic, marginal soils, making it of significant interest to affected croppers in the Mallee.
“Trials have shown that biochar increases pH and reduced heavy metal toxicity in soils, which can help growers mitigate the effects associated with those factors”.
The workshop – which will be held on the property of grower Daridyn Hayward – will include an overview of a trial which looked at the impact of biochar on his wheat crop in 2023. Jeremy Nelson, Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator, will also be presenting on an upcoming project to help land managers to investigate the fit of carbon farming for their enterprise.
The event will be held at 728 Allenby Road, Lameroo on Tuesday 27 August from 9:30 am – 1 pm. Attendance is free including lunch, but registrations are essential. Register and find out more information here.
This project is supported by the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board with funding from the South Australian Government’s Landscape Priorities Fundand the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
