Building the Future from the Ground Up!

US Biochar Initiative is not-for-profit organization promoting the sustainable production and use of biochar through research, policy, technology and doing it!

Biochar is fine-grained charcoal made by pyrolysis, the process of heating biomass with limited to no oxygen in a specially designed furnace capturing all emissions, gases, and oils for reuse as energy. It's been used in agriculture for more than 2,500 years and is becoming increasingly popular in modern agriculture and horticulture as a safe, sustainable soil amendment to improve the soil's porosity and it's retention of water and nutrients.

Biochar production is carbon negative and helps reduce CO2 emissions when biomass production is managed sustainably. Decaying or burning biomass releases CO2. Biochar retains approximately 50% of the carbon from the raw biomass, sequestering that carbon in the soil and enhancing plant growth which, in turn, absorbs more CO2 from the atmosphere.