Biochar in Your Soil

Did you know that there is pyrolytic carbon or biochar in all of the temperate soils of earth. I had heard of the Terra Preta a black, anthropogenic soil found in South America in the Amazon Basin. This was a soil made by the Amazons from a combination of charcoal, bone and compost. Terra Preta is persistant for thousands of years.

But did you know there is a significant amount of biochar in your soil. Here is how it works...


In the Midwest, the Iowa, Illinois and Southern Minnesota, the deep prairie soils can have up to 50% of the carbon in the soil as pyrolytic carbon That means if the soil organic matter is 8% carbon, you would have 4% biochar.

Scientists think this carbon came from prairie fires over thousands of years. We are just beginning to learn about benefits of biochar, but they are substantial.

Unfortunately many of these original prairie soils are highly eroded so much of this carbon has been lost due to modern farming practices.