PRESS RELEASE 

The North Carolina Farm Center for Innovation & Sustainability and its partner EcoTechnologies Group is celebrating its first anniversary by introducing the first mobile biochar unit in the United States to farm land in North Carolina.   The unit, called The Biochar 1000 is

from Biochar Systems, LLC, a joint venture with Biochar Engineering and EcoTechnologies Group. 

Nicknamed “Miss Terra Preta” from the ancient Amazonian practice of making biochar, the mid-sized pyrolysis machine was featured in the August edition of Popular Science Magazine as one of the eight answers to world hunger.

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-07/8-farming-solution-help-stop-world-hunger?page=6

Funded from a USDA Innovation-Conservation Grant the Center will test biochar production from forestry debris.  Field Study Research suggests that biochar applied as a soil additive will: 

1. Increase plant productivity and yield
2. Enhance moisture & nutrient retention and transport
3. Nurture beneficial soil organisms
4. Reduce the amount of commercial fertilizer needed while enhancing its efficiency
5. Is a one-time amendment – highly resistant to decomposition
6. Sequester carbon in the soil for hundreds of years

The NC Farm Center was organized in August 2008 for the purpose of combining the legacy of conservation with the potential of innovation.  The biochar project will take place on Privateer Farm which serves as the demonstration site for the Center. 

The NC Farm Center and ETG will host a reception at Privateer Farm in Fayetteville, NC on October 23, 2009 from 12:00PM to 1:30PM, and the demonstration will begin thereafter. 

Contact Information:

• Richard Perritt – NC Farm Center

rperritt@...

910-630-6232 

• Matt Harris – EcoTechnolgies Group

      matt@...