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Biochar — Just More Hot Air?

Biochar seems to be the latest new craze in everything agriculture and biofuel related.  It seems a term we are all going to be hearing a lot more of soon.

The basic idea is green waste is converted, by means of a process called slow pyrolysis, into a high carbon byproduct that is beneficial to soil fertility.  By adding it to crop land not only is the need for fertilizer inputs reduced, but the carbon is trapped in the soil for potentially thousands of years.  The process of slow pyrolysis also produces energy that can be converted into electricity in a similar way as burning biomass.

National Geographic recently ran a program on Terra Preta soil discovered in the Amazon rainforest, apparently as a result of an ancient civilization that built up their soil with biochar.  Alan of Bishop’s Homegrown recently made a post on this, and expressed an interest in making his own biochar.

On the other end of things Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the largest food processing company in the US, is preparing for a big push with this technology.  They see biochar working together with GM crops, used for food and biofuels, in a supposedly sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

Personally, I find it very exciting that someone like Alan is working on it on his own farm.  It would be great if it turned into a way to make local and small scale agriculture less dependent on chemical and other inputs, and increased productivity.  Likewise, I find it very suspicious that anything good can come from ADMs interest in the technology, and doubt very much they will implement it in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way in the end.

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Seeds to the US

The rules concerning sending seeds and other planting materials to the US are intentionally vague, and enforcement seems much more dependent on the political winds of the moment than anything else.  For some time now a ‘Small Lots of Seed’ permit was required, and perhaps technically still is.

At the same time it’s worth noting I’ve had several packages of seeds make it through recently without any special permits.  Kate from Hills and Plains Seed Savers blog also travelled to the US with a collection of seeds in her luggage, declared them, and was allowed to bring them in.

Someone interested in my Andean tubers recently called US customs to ask about the procedure for importing them, and was told there was no special procedure they could just be sent.  He was told the package should be clearly marked ‘Plant Materials Enclosed’.  I don’t know for sure this is true, as I haven’t actually tried to send them yet.

It does seem like we are in a period of lax enforcement.  If anyone has had problems getting plant materials into the US, this might be a good time to try again.  Hopefully this will last a while — but don’t count on it!

If anyone starts having problems again, please let us know.

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Videos

First, this is ‘The World According to Monsanto’, a French made (English language) documentary over the activities of Monsanto since 1964.  This goes along well with the post I made a few days ago about the Indian farmer suicides and the associated discussion.  Apparently this has not been shown on US TV, even though efforts have been made to find a network who would accept it.  The only way people in the US can watch it is if they buy the DVD or watch it on the Internet.

Another video I have on DVD is ‘The Future of Food‘.  A reader sent me this DVD and suggested I should share it with others after watching it myself.  This features some of the same people interviewed in the video above, and tells a slightly different story that’s not really Monsanto specific.

If anyone out there is interested in being the next receipient of this DVD, send me an email.  If more than one person is interested I will give priority to people I know, live nearby and/or have left comment(s) on posts here in the past.  Hopefully, whoever gets it will pass it on to someone else when they are finished.

Update: I forgot to mention this DVD is region encoded for North America. This means if you don’t live in NA, you need to have a region free player.

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Obama — Dutch/Fries?

There’s a rumor floating around here, that has yet to be confirmed, but did make the newspapers on Thursday (article in Dutch).

Apparently a Fries business man, who is behind a large peppermint company called King, with the family name Obbema, settled in Africa many years ago.  He is apparently an ancestor of Obama’s, and his children took on the name Obama.

Some research into this lead to the family coat of arms (of which I have not seen a picture), and apparently along the bottom it says in old Fries ‘Ja, wy kinne’, which translates into modern English as ‘Yes we can’!

It’s important to mention historically the region of Friesland was much different than it is now, so even if a Fries connection is proved, it doesn’t necessarily mean a Dutch connection.

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Monsanto’s Genocide

I recently came across this very gruesome and graphic article, after following a link in a post Robbyn made.

What was originally estimated to be a few thousand farmers, now recognized as 125,000, have killed themselves after getting into financial trouble growing GM crops.  According to Monsanto, regardless of the problems of individual farmers, cotton yields have doubled in the last seven years and suicide is a part of life in rural India.  So what’s the problem here?

The problem is Monsanto and other seed giants are promoting their products in a misleading way, leading farmers to expect larger yields and higher profits than are realistically possible.  Farmers are also promised, or the suggestion is made in promotion of the products, that pesticides will not be needed, which couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact the GM crops grown by farmers often promote insecticide resistant pests, meaning farmers have to buy even more expensive insecticides than would otherwise be necessary.  This leads to financial ruin of the farmers, who escape their debts by killing themselves.

Prince Charles of the UK, mentioned in the article, really deserves a lot of credit for drawing attention to the problem as well as setting up a trust fund to help impoverished farmers in India.  Of particular interest to readers of this blog may be that Prince Charles is also an avid gardener and seed saver, who has also drawn attention to the loss of heritage crop varieties.