Kev Dowman tells Paula Sharp why we should be producing biochar on a commercial scale. He says it is an investment for our future, specifically the future of New Zealand’s land quality and how we can contain carbon.
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Globally, there is scientific investment going into producing biochar, an activated type of charcoal, because of its environmental upside. And the upside is potentially massive. Biochar has the ability to hold carbon in the soil for thousands of years and simultaneously increase land fertility. Kevin Dowman is passionate for New Zealand to play a big part in this movement.
Kev is tapping into his experience and knowledge of logging and logging practices (milling wood, farming, and commercial waste products) to create biochar for domestic and commercial use. The process involves wood (or woodchip, garden waste, cardboard, or bones) heated to around 500oC with limited oxygen until it forms a charcoal, then dousing it with liquid, thereby activating the charcoal and creating biochar.
Biochar stabilises carbon (carbon sequestration). It is about 70 percent carbon, the remaining 30 percent is a composite of nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. Biochar is so porous it can interact with its surroundings. Research has proven that using biochar to increase soil carbon also increases soil pH and biodiversity, soil water retention and water quality improve, crop yield doubles, land fertility increases, there is less land erosion, microbials are more active (less disease), livestock health improves (therefore human health improves), and climate mitigation is in play. Biochar is so efficient at storing carbon (in a world where we are looking to cut greenhouse gases (GHG)), that it is being hailed as ‘black gold’ by product developers and innovators around the world.
Why is Kev so keen on biochar?
Kev converted to biochar from the other side. When he was 10 years old, Kev started skipping school to go logging with his father. By 14 he’d all but quit school to be a logger. By 19 he was helping to clear farms of their forestry before joining Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill in Tokoroa in charge of his own logging gang.
In those days, logging was a hugely lucrative business with whole native forests being cleared and planted in pine, then cleared again. Kev worked the length and breadth of New Zealand, he saw the change from under-scrubbing (slashing the undergrowth) with machetes before felling trees with axes and a (singular) chainsaw, to the use of a version of agent orange (245T) to kill off the scrub before the trees were levelled with machinery. (He has memories of his crew working as the chemical was dropped, their clothes and vehicles covered in its residue. “We were told it was safe, they were using this type of thing in the Vietnam war.”).
Fast forward to 2019, and things ‘weren’t quite right’ with his health. Kev was on his way to the doctor but got delayed by school students protesting against climate change. ‘We have 12 years left’ [to stop climate change] was the message he heard. Kev didn’t know if he had 12 years left. But he wanted a solution for these young people. Kev is a father, a grandfather, a man who has worked (and damaged) the land and a man who deeply loves the land. And he is not one to shy away from a challenge. In that moment he decided; ‘I’ve got to do something to change this. These kids need a future.’
Kev is an intelligent and articulate man who never went to university. His white hair and tanned face speak of decades outside. Self-educated on biochar, today he has a high level of technical knowledge on the subject. To meet him, he is more than ‘a man who can’, he is ‘a man who does.’
Kev’s thought process kept coming back to ‘nature knows how to do this’. His bright blue eyes sparkle as he explains; “Nature, by way of photosynthesis, converts carbon gases into solid carbon (plants and trees). As they grow, they are a natural carbon store. (A tree or plant is considered carbon neutral when it reaches maturity.) The gas converted in this process is now stored within the tree as wood and plant fibre. Carbon remains in this state until it begins to breakdown, by natural or other means. Insects, decay, burning, and weathering, all break down the carbon and release the gases back into the atmosphere.”
Unless it is stabilised. “Over billions of years carbon has been formed into a solid state, then trapped under ground, in the sea, lakes, swamps, bogs, and even in permafrost, in the form of coal, oil, natural gas and peat. In short, nature takes carbon from the air and puts it in the ground.
“It is well known that wood burned in a non-oxygen environment produces charcoal. Once activated, charcoal is very difficult to break down and carbon in this form can be stored for thousands of years.”
Kev’s solution
was simple, if we take it out, we help put it back. Five years on and many proto-types of biochar furnaces (the Tin Man, the Jolly Rodger, the Kon-Tiki, and the Retort Kiln), Kev has built his own energy and time-efficient kiln in order to make biochar for domestic use (patent pending). With investment, it is something that could also be upscaled for commercial use. Kev uses a variety of techniques for different materials in order to create biochar, but at the moment, he recommends the bucket style Kon-Tiki for domestic use. His advice to the home gardener is; “No matter what system; Retort, Kon-Tiki, Pit, or other, the drier the material, the better – under 20 percent moisture content is ideal. This means less energy is wasted driving out moisture, allowing for higher temperatures to be reached in the process, resulting in better char. All systems used should have a double burning ability of gases, at higher temperatures to keep down GHG.”
He knows New Zealand is an ideal country to utilise this on a large scale. There is simply a lot of waste wood (and other materials). He is not alone in this; Professor Jim Jones and his team at Massey University see the value of using slash to create biochar on a commercial scale.
As a nation, we produce a lot of slash which enters the waterways – damaging bridges, making rivers dangerous, damming small water reservoirs and washing up in large quantities on our beaches as logs or smaller driftwood. Recent weather events have seen huge amounts of damage caused by slash. Moreover, vast quantities of noncommercial grade logs are left in our remote forests, out of (public) sight, out of (the industry’s) mind. This wood currently has no commercial value, but could be a resource for biochar.
Future potential
Kev sees a future where slash or logging refuse is used as fuel for biochar, to harness CO2 as a resource for land quality. Low-grade waste logs could be made into biochar on location to replenish the soil, creating forest fertility.
Globally, historic over-farming, monoculture, and chemical use, has meant our soil is lacking in available micro- and macronutrients. Kev and other experts know biochar, mixed with organic matter, can alter this. Instead of nitrogen leaching below the plant root zone, biochar holds nitrate/nitrogen in place. Biochar increases the cations (positively charged ions within the soil) and anions (negatively charged ions). Higher levels of cations provide potassium, ammonium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese, iron and copper to the plant. Anions allow for higher amounts of nitrate, phosphate, sulphate, borate, and molybdate. When biochar is present, plants perform and absorb to a higher standard.
Biochar in our waterways could act as natural carbon filters, key to New Zealand being able to clean up its lakes, rivers and streams.
Research is also proving biochar as a feed additive could reduce methane production in the cow’s rumen. This benefit to our meat and dairy industry could be vast. In 2025, He Waka Eke Noa, the Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership plans to implement taxes on farmed animal’s methane and CO2 emissions. This tax will be the farmer’s responsibility (and therefore passed onto the consumer). Instead of taxing emissions in this way, perhaps He Waka Eke Noa, could support farmers to change their methane and CO2 levels at ‘grass roots’? Independently, and as a collective, farmers given this information and access to biochar or biochar furnaces could be incentivised to change their farming practices, producing fewer animal gases. Australian farmer, Doug Pow, found (and published) that by adding biochar to feed, livestock showed improved nutritional intake therefore increased milk production, and less odour and gas. As an aside, Kevin also questions whether our bee population is being ‘carbon starved’, that by introducing biochar into our pastures our bees would thrive at a higher level.
Biochar is not new to the world. Evidence of its use has been found in the Amazon between 500-9000 years BP (before present) to make arid soil fertile. In 2010, scientists James Hansen and James Lovelock started working with biochar for carbon dioxide removal. Many countries are exploring ways of eliminating or storing carbon. In New Zealand, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, has benchmarked and monitored soil carbon in 275 of its 500 on-farm sites (to June 2022). They are well aware of our carbon resources.
Is biochar part of the answer?
In 2023, the Wall Street Journal writes that large companies around the world are offsetting their carbon emissions with carbon credits and by buying into biochar and biochar products. In 2018, Fonterra Nelson transitioned from using coal to burning wood in a process called ‘co-firing’ to power its premises. Kev suggests it would be a small step to create biochar in the process. Fonterra, will you lead the way?
Should New Zealand be refocusing its CO2 gaze on options like biochar in order to validate its green credentials? Kev Dowman certainly thinks so.
Further information
Garden Biochar Production
Making biochar, by Living Web Farms.
A six-part series recommended by Kev Dowman.
Watch on YouTube
How to make a Kon-Tiki Kiln
Watch on YouTube
New Zealand Biochar Research Centre
Massey University – NZ Biochar Research Centre Articles
Paula Sharp is a Nutritional Therapist based in the Bay of Plenty. She is interested in organic food production and how quality food creates quality health. She recently attended a biochar workshop hosted by Kev Dowman and was inspired by his findings on natural soil enhancement.
Biochar
Submitted by Dylan Graves with permission from BNNZ.
What is biochar?
Biochar is produced by heating biomass in an oxygen-free or air-limited environment, called pyrolysis. If used as a soil amendment it will have biology added to it before application. Yes, it is similar to charcoal, but not the same.
Biochar’s key attributes and benefits
- Biochar is a stable form of carbon derived from biomass. The chemical carbon bonds are very resistant to breakdown through biological processes.
- It’s very long lived: Pyrogenic carbon in fertile grassland soils has been dated to over 7,000 years in the US Midwest, and 12-14,000 years in Russia.
- It has a microscopic pore structure which provides immense internal surface area and optimum habitat for soil microbiota. This porosity makes biochar an ideal amendment for increasing aeration and water retention of soils.
- Biochar has a high cation exchange capacity, which gives it superior adsorption qualities and provides the ability to bind and retain dissolved nutrients. The soil microbiota can use them and make them available to plant roots.
How is biochar produced?
Traditional charcoal production methods, such as smouldering in earth mounds or beehive kilns, are typically slow, polluting, and inefficient. Because of the lower temperatures in these processes, the charcoal produced has a high level of hydrocarbons remaining and is less suitable for many of the applications appropriate to biochar. It is also less long-lived and will degrade or decompose in soil.
An internet search will generate multiple methods for creating biochar at whichever scale suits you. Purposed incinerators, open air-drums, or small-scale kilns are available for household or farm-scale biochar production.
Commercial reactors produce syngas, industrial heat/ power, biochar; and potentially a range of condensates (pyroligneous acids, oils, and tars).
Things we could be doing with biochar in NZ:
- Turn virtually any organic material ‘waste’ into a useful product.
- Improve the fertility, aeration and water retention of our pasture and arable soils.
- Reduce the emissions of CO2, N2O, NH4+ and CH4 from agricultural soils.
- Reduce nutrient leaching into our waterways. Biochar can be used in soil or to filter water.
- After it is saturated with nutrients it can then be used as a soil amendment – the burden becomes a benefit.
- Carbon sequestration – short rotation crops could be converted to stable carbon.
- Other applications include animal feed supplements, bedding, manure management, effluent treatment, building materials, and more.
Standards and carbon sequestration eligibility
One of the primary drivers for economic production of biochar is likely to be the price of carbon credits, either through a government-operated cap and trade system like the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme, or via a voluntary market such as Puro.earth. In order for this value to be properly attributed, quantification of the carbon stored in biochar needs to be robust and verifiable and must take into account the complete lifecycle analysis (LCA) of production and application, along with reliable models of its longevity in the environment.
Modern pyrolysis plants as well as certain types of farm-scale methods such as flame cap pyrolysis systems can produce biochar in an energy efficient way.
European Biochar Certificate
The European Biochar Certificate (european-biochar.org) is a voluntary industry standard in Europe. In Switzerland, however, it is obligatory for all biochar sold for use in agriculture.
IBI Standards
The IBI Biochar Certification Program is a voluntary scheme administered by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI) to provide certification of biochar products (biochar-international.org)
The Biochar Network New Zealand Inc. (BNNZ)
Biochar Network of New Zealand (BNNZ) is an incorporated society constituted in 2019 with a mission to promote widespread acceptance of biochar. BNNZ has members with a high degree of practical knowledge who are passionate about biochar and its benefits. Join BNNZ at biochar.net.nz.
Vote organics this 2023 election
/in Features, Free Online, Magazine ArticlesAt this critical point of organic development in Aotearoa, government support is going to be crucial for organic and sustainable practices to evolve. Jenny Lux asks our political parties what they intend to do about it.
The General Election will be held on 14 October 2023 and those of us who care deeply about Soil & Health NZ’s long-held ambition for an organic New Zealand are asking: which party is going to really deliver?
Brendan Hoare outlines here the journey the organic sector has been on to get organics recognised by the government with the passing of the Organic Products and Production Act 2023 (Organic Act). As Brendan states, cooperation from government was pivotal.
The next eighteen months are when it is decided how the new Organic Act will be actioned by establishing the national organic standards and regulations. So we’d like to know which parties are planning to help a smooth transition to the new rules? Who has policies that will help boost organics to the next level? Despite amazing achievements by our organic growers, farmers and brands (see the 2020 OANZ Market Report), New Zealand still has less than one percent of organic certified land, whereas in Europe they are currently at 9.1 percent and are aiming for higher.
It’s going to take not only the grit, determination, and creativity of organic producers (which they have in bundles), but also the commitment of partners in the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to enable organic businesses to thrive. The resourcing of ministries and the policies that drive them are down to the government of the day.
In early June 2023, I went to the five political parties in parliament, as well as TOP and NZ First, and I asked them these three questions:
I got answers from four parties, printed verbatim below in alphabetical order of the party’s name. I got an acknowledgement of receipt, but no reply, from the Māori Party, TOP, nor NZ First.
If these answers do not satisfy, then I encourage you to keep asking the parties: what are you going to do for organics?
ACT New Zealand
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
key to transition to more sustainable forms of agriculture and horticulture. We would support this
transition for farmers through low-interest grants and loans, and phase out the use of synthetic
nitrogen fertiliser use. These actions are just a couple of steps to take to ensure we remain credible
internationally on climate, and to ensure our products meet the increasingly high standards now
needed on the international market.
advocates for years to achieve mandatory organics standards. Minimum standards not only provide
greater certainty for consumers, but they also give producers a guarantee that everyone is working to
the same standard.
OANZ’s sector strategy that was released in 2020 said that there is the potential to add $4.7 billion
in what they call ‘better growth’ to our economy by the year 2030, of which the Organic Act was
identified as a key tool for achieving this. That said, we recognise the transition to the new legislative
regime will require resourcing, and we have been actively lobbying the Minister of Agriculture for
both short-term and long-term financial support for the organic sector in light of these changes.
forms of agriculture, including organic agriculture, through low-interest loans and grants. This
incentive, paired with regulatory changes to the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser will send a strong
signal to the market, with time and support as we shift to value over volume – reducing emissions
and pollution in our waterways.
NZ Labour Party
The Labour Party chose not to answer the specific questions, rather they sent us this statement:
Labour’s election manifesto will be released later this year when the election campaign kicks off
and we will be able to comment with more specificity at that point.
However, the Government’s record speaks for itself. We passed the Organic Act at the beginning
of this year which will introduce robust and practical regulation to give farmers, growers, and
businesses the certainty needed to continue investing in our organics sector.
The Government recognised that it was key to put in place a framework to support the growing
industry and to allow producers to back up their organic status with a standardised system of
certification.
Alongside the Ministry for Primary Industries, we are currently undertaking the work needed
to get the system up and running – including consultation with organic farmers and growers on the
new regulatory system.
NZ National Party
the most carbon efficient in the world. However, we also recognise that to remain competitive we
must work to reduce agricultural emissions. Meeting our emissions targets ensures New Zealand
growers will get the best possible deal in overseas markets and for us to be attractive to international
consumers. National will provide farmers with the tools they need, including choices around
organic production, to reduce emissions and meet environmental obligations. We will ensure
that the recently adopted Organic Act is implemented quickly and effectively in cooperation with
the organics sector, and to a world standard. Offering farmers and growers choices without cost
regulations, will mean New Zealand continues to lead the world in food production.
will help enhance the reputation of New Zealand’s organic sector and ensure it remains world
leading. National believes that regulation should be ‘light touch’ and outcome focused. The Act
should be implemented in a cooperative way keeping regulation and cost low for organic producers.
National believes the establishment of an Organics Review Board, driven by the sector, would be the
best way to ensure quick and efficient decisions that work for organic growers. We will give farmers
a regulatory environment where they can have the confidence to invest and grow the organic
marketplace.
to have the choice to convert to organic production. It provides the framework for clear decision making and to ensure our quality reputation remains high. National believes in the importance
of strong industry engagement as a means to drive better outcomes from government policy
and regulation. A strong industry representation body is the best means to build a collaborative
relationship with producers. National will look to reprioritise existing funds from the MPI budget
to support the New Zealand organics sector and its representation bodies and to identify ways to
grow organic exports as a priority.
Organic Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ), the united voice of the organic sector in New Zealand, has formulated a strategy to grow the organic sector in New Zealand. To that end, we call for the next government to:
Speaking of resourcing …
Why is so little funding put into organic research and development in New Zealand? Why do we not have organic centres of research at all of our universities and polytechnics? Also, why is it so hard for farmers and growers to get tried and tested, independent, peer-reviewed, NZ-specific information on organic management? As a grower myself, I’d love to have an organic extension agent that I can call up to help me with a pest problem or a soil fertility issue, like in many parts of the USA. As it stands, we create our own unfunded networks and try to help each other. I’d personally like to see more of my tax dollar going towards finding organic solutions for our farmers!
Call for Climate
Soil & Health NZ have joined a campaign for urgent climate action – from all political parties. Climate Shift is a ten-point plan for climate action. Guided by the themes of real emissions reduction, supporting frontline communities, and restoring and rewilding nature, the call is for the following actions:
Climate Shift ten point plan (condensed)
implementing a native reforestation programme.
*We think it would have been even better if point 4 of the Call for Climate plan was reworded to:
Transition all farming to low (nil?) emission organic farming by subsidising organic compliance costs, research, and training with financing from levies on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, imported animal feed, and irrigation schemes.
Jenny Lux is the owner of the organic market garden, Lux Organics, and an environmental activist, actively involved in Organic Farm NZ, BioGro, and The Green Party and currently chair of Soil & Health NZ. She was deservedly the recipient of our OrganicNZ 2023 Farmer of the Year award. luxorganics.co.nz
The weird and wonderful Japanese raisin tree
/in Gardening, Magazine ArticlesIt looks like a fruit from another world, brown and knobbly and forked like a twig. The Chinese have long known of its restorative power on the liver and used it as an antidote for alcohol. But best of all it belies its looks and tastes just like it sounds – sweet and tasty with the slightly chewy consistency of a raisin.
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Anna-Marie Barnes is the New Zealand Tree Crops Association’s South Island Vice-President. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Primary Production) with a background in agroecology and entomology, and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning (Secondary). A lifelong gardener, she is a dedicated self-sufficiency enthusiast and endeavours to grow as much of her own produce as possible. She is a keen soapmaker, baker, cheesemaker, and preserver, and takes great delight in bartering ‘homestead goods’ with friends. She lives on a lifestyle block in the Tasman region with three unruly Orpington hens.
Get ready for spring: seasonal gardening tips and tasks
/in Free Online, Gardening, Magazine Articles, RegularsTips and tasks for the July/August māra,
by Diana Noonan
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While the the days are short and nights are cold, there’s still so much we can do to make sure our gardens are in the best possible state to enter the growing season. From clearing out pest insects and adding nutrition to the soil, to encouraging the earliest food-bearers, and even sowing some super-hardy vegetables, winter is a much more active gardening season than you might imagine!
Bring in the birds
Birds are one of our greatest assets in the organic garden, especially in winter. They come into my garden in flocks and return again and again to devour overwintering pest insects such as spider mites, aphids, mealy bugs, caterpillars, and scale insects.
Silvereyes appear to be especially deadly hunters, gobbling insects all day. To take advantage of their appetites, I make sure that all nets are removed from berry bushes and fruit trees and sections of the garden that don’t require protection from rabbits and possums.
If conditions are dry enough in the garden, use a rake to disturb mulches. This exposes pests such as grassgrub, slugs, snails, and their eggs, and allows other birds, such as thrush and blackbirds, to discover them. I scratch around the base of my fruit and nut trees with a rake to achieve the same results. Providing bird baths and feeding tables will encourage even more birds into your garden.
Dig in!
Towards the end of winter, if the ground is dry enough, I take the opportunity to dig my green manure crops (also known as cover crops) into the soil. In my garden, these are lupin, vetch, grain, or tick beans, the seeds of which I sowed en masse in autumn.
These plants take 6-8 weeks to break down in the soil, so digging them in now means they will be ready to provide nutrients to spring-sown plants. I dig my green manure crops to a depth of just 10-15cm (I want to disturb the soil as little as possible), turn them over, and lightly chop them back into the ground. If the weather is horribly wet, I’ll cover the bed with black plastic to protect the soil while the goodies decompose.
Sow early!
In winter, it’s not so much what early seed we sow, but how we sow and protect it, that’s important. Birds are more desperate for food in winter than in any other season, so netting or covering what you sow is essential. I always cover small seed (such as spinach and mesclun mixes) with clear plastic, raising it a few centimetres off the ground with the help of narrow boards.
This keeps the plastic just high enough to trap the heat beneath, hurry along germination, and let the seedlings develop their first true leaves. After that, it’s on with the bird netting.
To combat the winter wet, I sow smaller seed into slightly raised rows to assist with drainage and cover them, to the recommended depth, with light, dry, soil or friable compost.
In warmer months I always soak larger, more robust seed, such as pea and broad bean, before sowing to hurry along germination, but I never do this in winter. In winter, soaking the seed often causes it to decay in the already-damp ground before it has time to sprout. And even though the seed is larger, it is also netted.
Sow me now
Flowers
In warm and mild regions (undercover or outdoors in seed trays or individual pots, depending on location): foxglove, hollyhock, bachelor’s button, cosmos, evening primrose, echinacea, marigold, nasturtium, statice, sunflower, sweet pea.
In cold regions: As for warm and mild regions but sow into seed trays and place on heated propagation mats.
Herbs
In warm and mild regions (undercover or outdoors in seed trays or individual pots, depending on location): basil, chervil, dill, fennel, marjoram, mint, parsley, thyme.
In cold regions: As for warm and mild regions but sow into seed trays and place on heated propagation mats.
Veges
In warm and mild regions (outdoors): Asian greens, broad and dwarf beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, green manure crops, lettuce, parsnip, onions, potato, radish, rocket, silverbeet, spinach, spring onion.
(Undercover in seed trays or individual pots): aubergine, celeriac, capsicum, cucumber, celery, leek, melon, pumpkin, tomato.
In cold regions (undercover or outdoors, depending on location): brassica, broad beans, cool season microgreens, lettuce, peas, pea shoots, perpetual spinach beet, silverbeet.
(Undercover, in seed trays or individual pots): chili, capsicum, sweet corn, tomato
Healthy herbs
Some of the very first ‘greens’ to come through the soil toward the end of winter are hardy, tasty herbs. Chives, marjoram, fennel, and sorrel are longed-for flavour boosters in my late winter garden and I lavish attention on them. I make sure to mark their whereabouts in autumn (as some all but disappear beneath the ground as the days shorten), and toward the end of winter I clear the sites of fallen leaves and other debris.
I carefully scratch away any weeds, and mulch around (but not over) the spots. I pop a cloche (a cut off plastic soda bottle) over the delicate foliage as it emerges to lock in the heat and protect it from browsing animals.
I harvest cautiously at first, to keep the growth coming, and more vigorously after 2-3 weeks, as these ‘earlies’ are often the first edibles to run to seed.
Gear-up the greenhouse
If you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse, this is the time to press it into service (if you don’t have a greenhouse, you can build a simple cloche from hoops of willow pushed into the ground and covered with clear plastic held down with a brick at each end). Whatever you do, don’t wait until the start of spring to raise your seedlings. It can take from 3-8 weeks, depending on what kind of seed you sow, before a seedling is ready to transplant. Wash down the greenhouse inside and out to let in more light, and remove any overwintering plants that may be hosting pest bugs (be sure the bugs don’t drop off inside the greenhouse as you shift them).
Set up staged shelving to hold your seed trays (staged shelving is similar to a set of steps, and allows all seedling equal access to the light). Cover seed-raising containers with a sheet of glass to stop mice scratching them up in search of food, and once the seeds have germinated, check nightly for signs of slugs and snails.
Don’t forget to keep the greenhouse door shut to keep out the birds.
Bare necessities
It’s fruit and berry planting time, and the best deal is to purchase those that are bare-rooted.
Bare-rooted plants are dug straight from the soil while still dormant. Their roots are wrapped in a covering to stop them drying out. Bare-rooted trees and bushes have a better start in your garden than potted plants, the roots of which are likely to have been restricted for many months. Niche nurseries often specialise in bare-rooted plants so you usually have a great choice of variety.
Transplant me now
Flowers
In warm and mild regions: alyssum, Canterbury bells, dianthus, delphinium, gypsophilla, larkspur, marigold, sweet William, sweet pea, viola.
In cold regions (where conditions permit): alyssum, gypsophilla, larkspur, marigold, sweet pea, sweet William.
Herbs
In warm and mild regions: mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme.
(Under cover or when danger of frost has passed): basil and lemon grass.
In cold regions: chives, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme.
(Under cover): marjoram.
Veges
In warm and mild regions: asparagus crowns, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, silverbeet, shallots, strawberry.
In cold regions (undercover, in planter bags that can be moved outdoors when space is required): brassica, celery, hardy lettuce, perpetual beet, rocket, silverbeet, spinach.
Diana Noonan lives in the Catlins where she grows 70 percent of her food using a variety of methods including permaculture food forest to French intensive.
The soil improver: transforming forestry slash with biochar
/in Farming and Horticulture, Features, Free Online, Magazine ArticlesKev Dowman tells Paula Sharp why we should be producing biochar on a commercial scale. He says it is an investment for our future, specifically the future of New Zealand’s land quality and how we can contain carbon.
We hope you enjoy this free article from OrganicNZ. Join us to access more, exclusive members-only content.
Globally, there is scientific investment going into producing biochar, an activated type of charcoal, because of its environmental upside. And the upside is potentially massive. Biochar has the ability to hold carbon in the soil for thousands of years and simultaneously increase land fertility. Kevin Dowman is passionate for New Zealand to play a big part in this movement.
Kev is tapping into his experience and knowledge of logging and logging practices (milling wood, farming, and commercial waste products) to create biochar for domestic and commercial use. The process involves wood (or woodchip, garden waste, cardboard, or bones) heated to around 500oC with limited oxygen until it forms a charcoal, then dousing it with liquid, thereby activating the charcoal and creating biochar.
Biochar stabilises carbon (carbon sequestration). It is about 70 percent carbon, the remaining 30 percent is a composite of nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. Biochar is so porous it can interact with its surroundings. Research has proven that using biochar to increase soil carbon also increases soil pH and biodiversity, soil water retention and water quality improve, crop yield doubles, land fertility increases, there is less land erosion, microbials are more active (less disease), livestock health improves (therefore human health improves), and climate mitigation is in play. Biochar is so efficient at storing carbon (in a world where we are looking to cut greenhouse gases (GHG)), that it is being hailed as ‘black gold’ by product developers and innovators around the world.
Why is Kev so keen on biochar?
Kev converted to biochar from the other side. When he was 10 years old, Kev started skipping school to go logging with his father. By 14 he’d all but quit school to be a logger. By 19 he was helping to clear farms of their forestry before joining Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill in Tokoroa in charge of his own logging gang.
In those days, logging was a hugely lucrative business with whole native forests being cleared and planted in pine, then cleared again. Kev worked the length and breadth of New Zealand, he saw the change from under-scrubbing (slashing the undergrowth) with machetes before felling trees with axes and a (singular) chainsaw, to the use of a version of agent orange (245T) to kill off the scrub before the trees were levelled with machinery. (He has memories of his crew working as the chemical was dropped, their clothes and vehicles covered in its residue. “We were told it was safe, they were using this type of thing in the Vietnam war.”).
Fast forward to 2019, and things ‘weren’t quite right’ with his health. Kev was on his way to the doctor but got delayed by school students protesting against climate change. ‘We have 12 years left’ [to stop climate change] was the message he heard. Kev didn’t know if he had 12 years left. But he wanted a solution for these young people. Kev is a father, a grandfather, a man who has worked (and damaged) the land and a man who deeply loves the land. And he is not one to shy away from a challenge. In that moment he decided; ‘I’ve got to do something to change this. These kids need a future.’
Kev is an intelligent and articulate man who never went to university. His white hair and tanned face speak of decades outside. Self-educated on biochar, today he has a high level of technical knowledge on the subject. To meet him, he is more than ‘a man who can’, he is ‘a man who does.’
Kev’s thought process kept coming back to ‘nature knows how to do this’. His bright blue eyes sparkle as he explains; “Nature, by way of photosynthesis, converts carbon gases into solid carbon (plants and trees). As they grow, they are a natural carbon store. (A tree or plant is considered carbon neutral when it reaches maturity.) The gas converted in this process is now stored within the tree as wood and plant fibre. Carbon remains in this state until it begins to breakdown, by natural or other means. Insects, decay, burning, and weathering, all break down the carbon and release the gases back into the atmosphere.”
Unless it is stabilised. “Over billions of years carbon has been formed into a solid state, then trapped under ground, in the sea, lakes, swamps, bogs, and even in permafrost, in the form of coal, oil, natural gas and peat. In short, nature takes carbon from the air and puts it in the ground.
“It is well known that wood burned in a non-oxygen environment produces charcoal. Once activated, charcoal is very difficult to break down and carbon in this form can be stored for thousands of years.”
Kev’s solution
was simple, if we take it out, we help put it back. Five years on and many proto-types of biochar furnaces (the Tin Man, the Jolly Rodger, the Kon-Tiki, and the Retort Kiln), Kev has built his own energy and time-efficient kiln in order to make biochar for domestic use (patent pending). With investment, it is something that could also be upscaled for commercial use. Kev uses a variety of techniques for different materials in order to create biochar, but at the moment, he recommends the bucket style Kon-Tiki for domestic use. His advice to the home gardener is; “No matter what system; Retort, Kon-Tiki, Pit, or other, the drier the material, the better – under 20 percent moisture content is ideal. This means less energy is wasted driving out moisture, allowing for higher temperatures to be reached in the process, resulting in better char. All systems used should have a double burning ability of gases, at higher temperatures to keep down GHG.”
He knows New Zealand is an ideal country to utilise this on a large scale. There is simply a lot of waste wood (and other materials). He is not alone in this; Professor Jim Jones and his team at Massey University see the value of using slash to create biochar on a commercial scale.
As a nation, we produce a lot of slash which enters the waterways – damaging bridges, making rivers dangerous, damming small water reservoirs and washing up in large quantities on our beaches as logs or smaller driftwood. Recent weather events have seen huge amounts of damage caused by slash. Moreover, vast quantities of noncommercial grade logs are left in our remote forests, out of (public) sight, out of (the industry’s) mind. This wood currently has no commercial value, but could be a resource for biochar.
Future potential
Kev sees a future where slash or logging refuse is used as fuel for biochar, to harness CO2 as a resource for land quality. Low-grade waste logs could be made into biochar on location to replenish the soil, creating forest fertility.
Globally, historic over-farming, monoculture, and chemical use, has meant our soil is lacking in available micro- and macronutrients. Kev and other experts know biochar, mixed with organic matter, can alter this. Instead of nitrogen leaching below the plant root zone, biochar holds nitrate/nitrogen in place. Biochar increases the cations (positively charged ions within the soil) and anions (negatively charged ions). Higher levels of cations provide potassium, ammonium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese, iron and copper to the plant. Anions allow for higher amounts of nitrate, phosphate, sulphate, borate, and molybdate. When biochar is present, plants perform and absorb to a higher standard.
Biochar in our waterways could act as natural carbon filters, key to New Zealand being able to clean up its lakes, rivers and streams.
Research is also proving biochar as a feed additive could reduce methane production in the cow’s rumen. This benefit to our meat and dairy industry could be vast. In 2025, He Waka Eke Noa, the Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership plans to implement taxes on farmed animal’s methane and CO2 emissions. This tax will be the farmer’s responsibility (and therefore passed onto the consumer). Instead of taxing emissions in this way, perhaps He Waka Eke Noa, could support farmers to change their methane and CO2 levels at ‘grass roots’? Independently, and as a collective, farmers given this information and access to biochar or biochar furnaces could be incentivised to change their farming practices, producing fewer animal gases. Australian farmer, Doug Pow, found (and published) that by adding biochar to feed, livestock showed improved nutritional intake therefore increased milk production, and less odour and gas. As an aside, Kevin also questions whether our bee population is being ‘carbon starved’, that by introducing biochar into our pastures our bees would thrive at a higher level.
Biochar is not new to the world. Evidence of its use has been found in the Amazon between 500-9000 years BP (before present) to make arid soil fertile. In 2010, scientists James Hansen and James Lovelock started working with biochar for carbon dioxide removal. Many countries are exploring ways of eliminating or storing carbon. In New Zealand, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, has benchmarked and monitored soil carbon in 275 of its 500 on-farm sites (to June 2022). They are well aware of our carbon resources.
Is biochar part of the answer?
In 2023, the Wall Street Journal writes that large companies around the world are offsetting their carbon emissions with carbon credits and by buying into biochar and biochar products. In 2018, Fonterra Nelson transitioned from using coal to burning wood in a process called ‘co-firing’ to power its premises. Kev suggests it would be a small step to create biochar in the process. Fonterra, will you lead the way?
Should New Zealand be refocusing its CO2 gaze on options like biochar in order to validate its green credentials? Kev Dowman certainly thinks so.
Further information
Garden Biochar Production
Making biochar, by Living Web Farms.
A six-part series recommended by Kev Dowman.
Watch on YouTube
How to make a Kon-Tiki Kiln
Watch on YouTube
New Zealand Biochar Research Centre
Massey University – NZ Biochar Research Centre Articles
Paula Sharp is a Nutritional Therapist based in the Bay of Plenty. She is interested in organic food production and how quality food creates quality health. She recently attended a biochar workshop hosted by Kev Dowman and was inspired by his findings on natural soil enhancement.
Biochar
Submitted by Dylan Graves with permission from BNNZ.
What is biochar?
Biochar is produced by heating biomass in an oxygen-free or air-limited environment, called pyrolysis. If used as a soil amendment it will have biology added to it before application. Yes, it is similar to charcoal, but not the same.
Biochar’s key attributes and benefits
How is biochar produced?
Traditional charcoal production methods, such as smouldering in earth mounds or beehive kilns, are typically slow, polluting, and inefficient. Because of the lower temperatures in these processes, the charcoal produced has a high level of hydrocarbons remaining and is less suitable for many of the applications appropriate to biochar. It is also less long-lived and will degrade or decompose in soil.
An internet search will generate multiple methods for creating biochar at whichever scale suits you. Purposed incinerators, open air-drums, or small-scale kilns are available for household or farm-scale biochar production.
Commercial reactors produce syngas, industrial heat/ power, biochar; and potentially a range of condensates (pyroligneous acids, oils, and tars).
Things we could be doing with biochar in NZ:
Standards and carbon sequestration eligibility
One of the primary drivers for economic production of biochar is likely to be the price of carbon credits, either through a government-operated cap and trade system like the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme, or via a voluntary market such as Puro.earth. In order for this value to be properly attributed, quantification of the carbon stored in biochar needs to be robust and verifiable and must take into account the complete lifecycle analysis (LCA) of production and application, along with reliable models of its longevity in the environment.
Modern pyrolysis plants as well as certain types of farm-scale methods such as flame cap pyrolysis systems can produce biochar in an energy efficient way.
European Biochar Certificate
The European Biochar Certificate (european-biochar.org) is a voluntary industry standard in Europe. In Switzerland, however, it is obligatory for all biochar sold for use in agriculture.
IBI Standards
The IBI Biochar Certification Program is a voluntary scheme administered by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI) to provide certification of biochar products (biochar-international.org)
The Biochar Network New Zealand Inc. (BNNZ)
Biochar Network of New Zealand (BNNZ) is an incorporated society constituted in 2019 with a mission to promote widespread acceptance of biochar. BNNZ has members with a high degree of practical knowledge who are passionate about biochar and its benefits. Join BNNZ at biochar.net.nz.
Night Owls and Early Birds
/in CompetitionsCompetition now closed. Thank you.
Goodness Kitchen organic berries
/in CompetitionsCompetition now closed. Thank you to Goodness Kitchen.
Linden Leaves natural skincare bundle
/in CompetitionsCompetition now closed. Thank you to Linden Leaves.
The winners of the OrganicNZ Awards 2023
/in Organic WeekCongratulations to the OrganicNZ Awards 2023 Winners
We are delighted to announce the winners in the Peoples’ Choice, Hua Parakore, and Peer-Reviewed categories for the OrganicNZ Awards 2023.
Community Garden of the Year – presented by Chantal Organics
Aunty’s Garden, Waipatu Marae, Hawke’s Bay
Farmers’ Market of the Year – presented by Farmlands
Waikato Farmers’ Market
Non-food Product of the Year – presented by OANZ
Miraculous Facial Oil, Linden Leaves
Beverage of the Year – presented by Fonterra Organic
Otis Oat Milk – the Organic One, Otis Oat Milk
Food of the Year – presented by Countdown
Salt & Vinegar Pea Chips, Ceres Organics
Hua Parakore Award – presented by Te Waka Kai Ora
Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust
Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae
Emerging Leader of the Year – presented by TranzAlpine Honey
Brittany Stembridge, TomTit Farm
Brand of the Year – presented by the Soil and Health Assn. NZ
TranzAlpine Honey
Organic Regenerative Farmer of the Year – presented by Biolchim
Jenny Lux
About the judges
Philippa Jamieson is the former editor of OrganicNZ magazine and an Honorary Life Member of the Soil & Health Association.
Geneva Hildreth is Co-Chair of Te Waka Kai Ora and a former chair of Te Tai Tokerau Organic Producers.
Allan Richardson is a west Otago organic sheep and beef farmer and current OANZ board member.
Cleo Te Kiri is a BioGro board member and is the Dairy Business Manager Organics at Pamu (Landcorp).
Chris Morrison is the chair of OANZ and has made numerous business and voluntary contributions to the world of organics in Aotearoa.
About the awards
The OrganicNZ Awards are presented by OrganicNZ magazine as part of annual Organic Week celebrations.
Organic Week is an annual celebration, held 1 – 7 May this year, organised by The Soil & Health Association of New Zealand and Organics Aotearoa New Zealand.
Organic Week is sponsored by Countdown, Biolchim New Zealand, Farmlands, AsureQuality, Kokako Coffee, Chantal Organics, TranzAlpine Honey, Pernergetic New Zealand, Waihi Bush and the Open Polytechnic.
Three peer-reviewed awards were decided by a group of judges. These categories are: Organic Regenerative Farmer of the Year, Emerging Organic Leader of the Year, and Organic Brand of the Year.
Five Peoples’ Choice awards were decided by public vote. These categories are: Organic Food Product of the Year, Organic Beverage of the Year, Organic Non-Food Product of the Year, Community Garden of the Year, and Farmers’ Market of the Year.
Watch the Organic NZ Awards 2023
/in Organic WeekCelebrate the organic sector with the presentation of eight OrganicNZ awards, and te tāonga o te Hua Parakore.
The evening was opened by Dennis Ngawhare, as well as Wellington’s Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon and the awards themselves were presented by representatives of our major sponsors and community.
It was so special to host such a diverse crowd of organic practitioners, leaders, business people, media representatives, and the wider community. Thanks to all who watched from home, too!
Watch both parts of the night recorded below, or click here to watch on Vimeo: Part One and Part Two
Accounting for the future
/in Farming and Horticulture, Free Online, Magazine ArticlesThis is the editorial from our May/June 2023 issue, published here along with its online references.
A recent article in a farming magazine1, bemoaned that an estimated $55 million has been spent comparing organic/regenerative to industrial (named conventional) farming – with the conclusion that regenerative farming produced less profit and more GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions.
In the report2 referred to, however, regenerative farming modelling had lower GHG per hectare (3.9 T CO2e/ha versus 5.0 T CO2e/ha), but industralised farming had higher production so it was calculated to have lower emissions per kilogram of product.
I have studied and practiced organic farming for many years and have repeatedly noted how clay and anaerobic soils can change into black, sweet-smelling loam in an amazingly short time – undisputable evidence of carbon being sequestered and biological life returning to the soil. I note the improvement every time I dig a hole. I sit down and count my worms and feel vindicated.
But soil carbon is not factored into New Zealand’s GHG modelling or our national greenhouse gas inventory3. It is overseas, but NZ deems it too labour-intensive and expensive 4.
Also, as Dee Pigneguy pointed out in OrganicNZ Jan/Feb 2023, 70% of the world’s methane is estimated to pass the through the soil each year, coming into contact (in a healthy organic soil) with methanogens – microbes that digest methane. This closes the loop with ruminants (cows) in the methane cycle. It’s another factor unaccounted for and unmeasured in the GHG calculations.
Organic farmers are well aware that everything, including gases, have a natural cycle and nature is complex with multiple factors and processes synchronised. Science has made tremendous discoveries in recent times, but their understanding of, and ability to measure, these processes is still limited.
The author of the original article, Dr Jacqueline Rowarth, (PhD and a Director of Ravensdown, DairyNZ, and Deer Industry NZ), concluded by asking “how agricultural scientists, researchers and rural professionals can swing their work back to where it can make a difference for the future – testing new ideas rather than confirming why the old haven’t become mainstream”.
I put it to Dr Rowarth that ‘the old’ organic practices were mainstream for centuries and it is only relatively recently they’ve been replaced with profit-focused ‘new ideas’ – which often prove to be detrimental to our soils, water, and climate. Charles Hyland details one on page 58.
We know through experience, application, observation, logic, and international research, that regenerative organic systems are the most sustainable. Page 62 outlines the advocacy Soil & Health NZ is making for this to be recognised. But then, Dr Rowarth’s suggested new ideas include pasture species (do I hear GM?) and methane inhibitors in cows. Conversely, it is hard to make money out of organics which is a process, not a product.
I suggest that instead of ‘new ideas’ developed without comprehension of the consequences, the focus should be on understanding what works (regenerative organics) and how to utilise this to the maximum advantage.
That is what will make a difference to our future.
References
1. Country Wide, February 2023, Page 78. Science and the Critique.
2. https://ourlandandwater.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Regenerative-Agriculture-Value-Proposition-FINAL.pdf
3. https://www.agmatters.nz/actions/potential-actions/#soil-carbon
4 https://hewakaekenoa.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/He-Waka-Eke-Noa-Greenhouse-gases-Farm-Planning-Guidance-March-2022-Final.pdf