BiochaR and BiotechnoloGY

oLd And neW TecHnoLoGieS To SoLVe TodAY’S cHALLenGeS

biotechnology is recognized as a cutting-edge tool that may help society overcome two major challenges. by enhancing agricultural productivity, biotechnology can assist in feeding an increasing world population. And, by developing sustainable bioprocesses and bioproducts, biotechnology can lower dependence on non-renewable petroleum resources.

Less well known is that biochar, a centuries old soil amendment technology undergoing a renaissance, is also being proposed as a solution to these challenges. That’s not all; biochar may also provide a way to mitigate climate change and diversify economies.

What is biochar and how can it do all this?

Biochar: charcoal by any other name

Charcoal is considered one of the oldest processed fuels known to mankind. It is produced by heating biomass like wood in low-or-zero-oxygen environments. Charcoal can be produced in a variety of ways, from low-tech earth mound kilns and buried pits to higher-tech pyrolysis units.

In North America, charcoal is associated with barbeques, but charcoal was used as cleaner-burning fuel to cook food and for iron smelting. Many are also familiar with activated carbon, which is used to fi lter and purify water. When it is applied to soil, charcoal takes on a new function, soil amendment and a new name, biochar.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, biochar was used by Amerindian farmers in the Amazon region as a soil management technique that appears to have supported complex civilizations as they developed. Evidence of these ancient practices can still be found in Amazonian Dark Earths, also known as Terra Preta, Portuguese for cooked earth.

Promising features and potential new applications

Biochar and biochar-producing systems have many features that suggest a promising future for this old product.

Soil management

Biochar stimulates soil microorganisms’ activity. It may lower fertilizer other agrochemical inputs while improving water use effi ciency, since it reduces chemical run-off and retains water. In richer soils, biochar’s productivity benefi ts may be subtle or only observed during a drought or lower than normal precipitation, but in degraded or nutrient-poor soils, productivity improvement can be dramatic. And, because biochar is stable, one application’s benefi ts are felt for years.

Climate change mitigation

Regular soil carbon derived from compost or other organic matter can be converted to carbon dioxide by soil microorganisms over months to years. In contrast, biochar carbon is stable for centuries to millennia.

Given this longevity, biochar has been suggested as a method for sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide captured during normal plant photosynthesis in a process known as biosequestration. Biochar also lowers soil emissions of other potent greenhouse gasses like nitrous oxides and methane.

Diversify economies

Biochar can be produced from a wide variety of feedstocks and biochar production may provide alternative outlets for biomass and residues from a variety of sectors. Obvious ones include agriculture and forestry, but additional sources include biomass from industry and municipalities, which would have the additional benefi t of diverting organic matter streams away from landfi lls.

An added bonus is that when biochar is produced, the energy it releases can be used for heating, which reduces the reliance on fossil fuels. Furthermore, biomass can be economically transported in an approximate range of 200 km. Because of this continued on page 22

limited range, it will likely rely on small, distributed biomass processing facilities rather than large, centralized ones. Small-tomedium-scale biochar producing units that produce energy and biochar are recognized internationally for the potential win-win-win sustainable development opportunities they present, especially in rural or poorer communities.

If carbon trading and pricing mechanisms are established, biochar may also have monetary value as a carbon offset.

Building the case for biochar

Even though biochar and biochar-producing systems promise to provide environmentally, socially and economically sustainable solutions to many challenges, much fundamental work remains to be done.

Scientists, engineers and variety of individuals in academia, government, industry and non-governmental organizations are determining how best to deploy these technologies, whether alone or in combination with other technologies. In particular, they are investigating biotechnologies such as fast growing trees or drought-resistant plants dedicated to biomass productions.

The Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) Agriculture, Biotechnology and Food Division is well-positioned to contribute to efforts exploring biochar’s feasibility in Saskatchewan and other agricultural regions. SRC’s Bioprocessing Business Unit is commissioning a mobile pyrolysis unit, which processes biomass to create biochar. This unit can be operated within the laboratory or transported to the feedstock location for remote processing. It will be pivotal to an SRC study, supported by Saskatchewan’s Agricultural Development Fund, investigating pyrolysis of agricultural and livestock residue.

In addition, the SRC’s Health and Food Business Unit is exploring biochar’s use for bioremediation of wastes from the mining and agriculture industry. The unit has plans to conduct greenhouse and small plot field trials.

SRC is also contributing to efforts by local industry, researchers and other interested individuals to establish the Prairie Biochar Initiative, a not-for-profit association meant to coordinate biochar-related research, outreach and education in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.

So stay tuned—biochar may be black but its future looks bright.

For more information on biochar, visit www. biochar-international.org. To learn more about SRC’s biochar activities, contact bioprocessing@src.sk.ca or health&food@src.sk.ca.

For more Industrial Applications information visit our ENERGY Web Portal at

www.bioscienceworld.ca

continued from page 18

Midge tolerant wheat varieties are grown with non-tolerant wheat varieties in an interspersed refuge system. This practice extends the life of the resistance gene (Sm1) within the tolerant variety. The ideal ratio for a midge tolerant blend is 90 per cent tolerant to 10 per cent susceptible.

In order to maintain these ratio levels in the field, CSGA requires that seed crops be tested for compliance with the interspersed refuge system following harvest each year. SRC GenServe Laboratories™ has developed midge varietal blend verification tests for each of the registered blends currently available to seed growers.

For the 2009 crop year, 400 samples were tested and results reported to seed growers in order to obtain crop certificates. SRC GenServe Laboratories™ will be providing this service on an ongoing basis and will begin processing samples for the 2010 crop year this fall.

In addition to supporting the wheat midge refuge strategy, the outcomes of Rapid Wheat Identification project have significant positive impacts for the grain industry and farmers across the country. Rapidly identifying Canadian wheat varieties will be a vital tool in quality control and risk management throughout the grain handling system. Costs associated with grain shipments that get down-graded in quality are significant and increase dramatically as grain progresses through the handling system.

DNA-based technology will allow for early detection of quality issues, allowing mitigating action to be taken in a timely manner. This could minimize costs and potentially prevent Canada’s reputation for quality from being eroded. Implementing DNA-based technology will also facilitate identification and segregation of visually indistinguishable varieties, allowing new varieties with highly desirable traits to enter the system that had previously been rejected under KVD due to visual indistinguishability from existing classes. Wheat breeders will have a greater level of freedom in developing new varieties for a number of uses.

Farmers will be able to grow new, higher yielding varieties for uses such as feed and ethanol production, while maintaining Canada’s brand reputation for high quality products and competitiveness in international grain markets.

For more AgrIculture information visit our NATURAL HEALTH PRODUCTS Web Portal at

www.bioscienceworld.ca

WHAt iS Agriculture?

By Darcy R. Pawlik

depending on where, how, when and by whom you were brought up, the answer to what is agriculture varies greatly. Some are quick to say, farming is farming, you put seeds in the ground and they grow into the food we eat. Sort of. others say something about the activity of managing the land to grow the food we eat. closer. others really have no idea where our food comes from, and most really don’t understand that agriculture is a science.

Science is defi ned as the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation. Well then indeed, agriculture is truly a science and in every sense of the word, it is complicated. Aside from the biology of a plant or how it grows, agriculture has many facets that unbridle it from even the most complicated of systems.

Agriculture includes transportation, communication, fi nance, trade, machinery, physics, biology, chemistry, pathology, energy, the most diversifi ed distribution chain in the world and the list goes on. What i am illustrating is that agriculture is a complicated business, with many variables constantly in fl ux and the entrepreneurs that invest in it take enormous risks every time they plant a crop. consequently, agriculture will quickly become the most important branch of science in the upcoming century, so we had better get people thinking about it. in 1960, one hectare of arable land fed two people – in 2030, it will need to feed fi ve people. The new agriculture is one of ensuring effi ciencies are realized, it is one where sustainability is paramount. it will require more output from less available resources, it will have to deal with climate change and urban sprawl, it will have to withstand signifi cant invasive pest pressures and most importantly, it will have to feed all nine billion of earths inhabitants by 2050. The science of agriculture will need to be harnessed and unlocked to realize its potential. Today, Syngenta alone spends $2.5 million every day trying to bring the potential in plants to life. This is no small investment, but it is no small task that the agriculture industry is facing. We are using our resources to defend against biological and environmental pressures, we are increasing the competitiveness of the crops we plant and we are trying to do these things sustainably for future generations.

What agriculture needs is real innovation and real talent to achieve what will be the biggest challenge of this century. i want to see people’s understanding of agriculture signifi cantly increase with every day, with every generation and in every way possible. Why? because the world is depending on it; because we are depending on it, and most importantly, our children are depending on it.