Dirt Talk – Intro to Biochar Production and Uses

Dirt Talks are farmer to farmer networking opportunities for farmers to share their knowledge about a topic of their choice and connect with other farmers. Join Francesco Tortorici of Olympic Biochar share his knowledge!

What is Biochar?

Biochar is basically a carbon product that is similar to charcoal or activated carbon but has its own unique set of properties. There are many different types of biochar created from different carbon sources (wood, sawdust, poultry litter, etc.) and using different methods of pyrolysis (burning). Biochar can be added to the soil to help improve soil moisture retention (Glaser et al. 2002, Basso et al. 2013, Imhoff and Nakhli 2017, Trippe and Phillips 2018), reduce runoff (Imhoff and Nakhli 2017), increase soil sorption potential to limit chemical and nutrient losses via leaching to the groundwater (Tian et al. 2014, 2016), add carbon to the soil (biochar is carbon), and augment root penetration (Bruun et al. 2014). Biochar can also alter the microbial reactions in all phases of soil nutrient cycles (Gul and Whalen 2016). Moreover, biochar can increase crop yields (Jeffery et al. 2011, Biederman and Harpole 2013, Liu et al. 2013).

Using Zoom
Because of security issues, you must have your own Zoom account to participate, and you must have your Zoom account set up and be registered for the webinar at least three hours before the webinar start time.

You can easily create a free Zoom account if you do not already have one from this link: https://zoom.us/freesignup/

Be sure you register with the same name and email address that you used for creating your Zoom account.

New to Zoom? The link below contains basic instructions for how to join a Zoom meeting.
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting

The video is only a couple of minutes long and is very helpful. On the same page, the Overview section below the video includes links to download the Zoom application, along with a link to join a Test Meeting.

Troubleshooting Zoom
We have learned a few things from past Zoom sessions that we’d like to pass on to you to minimize problems with logging in. Most of the issues seem to be problems unique to each user and device, and we have no ability to troubleshoot during the class. But each of the tips below has worked for someone.

·         New to Zoom? Be sure to log on early so you have time to try these tips if something doesn’t work right:

·         If you are using Zoom through your web browser, try downloading and using the desktop client instead. In fact, it may be good for everyone to download and have this ready in advance.

·         If you are using a phone or tablet (either Android or IOS), use the Zoom app instead of using a web browser.

***Please note this meeting will be recorded and available to the public for viewing after.