Dr.

Richard Perritt, Executive Director

North Carolina Farm Center
for Innovation and Sustainability
PO Box 53329
Fayetteville, NC 28305
910-630-6232
www.ncfarmcenter.org
rperritt@ncfarmcenter.org
Board of Directors
Ms. Sharon Valentine, founder and president
Owner/Operator. Privateer Farm
Mr. Edward Pickett, vice president
Raymond James Financial Services
Mr. Carey Downing, Jr., treasurer
CPA, Downing and Downing
Mr. William Clark, secretary
Attorney at Law

North Carolina
Mr. Scott Weathington,
President and Agronomist. Agri-technologies

Farm Center
Dr. Marshall Burkes,

biochar: Financial Consultant. Lumbee River Electric

a charcoal-like substance made from Advisory Board
the burning of agricultural waste to Mr. Donald Belk, AICP,
create potentially carbon negative,
Regional Planner.
highly productive, sustainable BRAC RTF
farming. Dr. Leonard Bull,
25x25’ Carbon Working Group.
Retired NCSU Professor
terra preta: Mr. Peter Campbell,
Biologist. U.S. Fish and
biochar found near ancient
Wildlife Service
indigenous settlements that continues
to enhance Amazonian soils today. Mr. James Dougherty,
Executive Director. RLUAC
for innovation and sustainability
Dr. Larry Keene,
BIOCHAR
President. Fayettevil e Technical
Community College
Ms. Nomee Landis, DEMONSTRATION
PROGRAM
Freelance Writer, former
Fayettevil e Observer reporter
Mr. Jon Parsons, PE,
Executive Director.
Sustainable Sandhil s
Mr. John Ray,
Soil Conservationist,
USDA. NRCS. (retired)

pyrolisis: Dr. Sid Gautam,

Founder/Director. Methodist
University Center for
Mr. Roger Sheats,
President. Cape Fear River
the process of heating agricultural Entrepreneurship Assembly, Inc
and forestry waste without oxygen at
Mr. Jason Hoyle, Dr. Johnny Wynne,
high temperatures to create biochar. Appalachian State University Dean NSCU, College of Agriculture
Energy Institute and Life Sciences
 A FOR FUTURE
SOLUTION
The NC Farm Center for Innovation and Sustainability
is launching a three-year project to test biochar. Biochar is
produced by converting agro-forest waste biomass to carbon-
rich charcoal. When added to the soil, it attracts nutrients that
increase plant growth. It could simultaneously make farming more
sustainable and turn agricultural fields enriched with biochar into
vaults for storing carbon.
The NC Farm Center was awarded over $500,000 from a USDA
Conservation Innovation Grant to test the first mobile pyrolysis
units in the United States. Matching funds provided by private
donors have brought the total budget for the project to roughly
$1.24 mil ion. The three year project wil demonstrate the potential
of biochar in agriculture and timber management while creating
new opportunities for farms.
Biochar is a carbon negative, charcoal like substance.
that promises to:
VV Increase plant productivity and yield
VV Enhance moisture and nutrient retention and transport
VV Nurture beneficial soil organisms
VV Reduce the amount of commercial fertilizer needed while
enhancing its efficiency
VV Is a one-time amendment, highly resistant to decomposition
VV Sequester carbon in the soil for hundreds of years
Biochar is produced through pyrolysis technology.
The Center has acquired the first mobile pyrolysis unit from
BiocharSystems located in Colorado. The NC Farm Center wil
operate the unit to demonstrate the benefits of biochar applications
on the 6,000 acres of Privateer Farm.
GENERATIONS
Biochar is especial y promising for improving the quality of The mobile Pyrolysis machine was manufactured by BioSystems
eastern North Carolina’s marginal, sandy soils. The demise of the
LLC and Bioengineering Corp. located in Golden, Colorado.
state’s original cash crop, tobacco, has forced farmers to search
for alternative crops that are suited to small and medium-sized www.biocharsystems.com
farms. With biochar, a small farmer in North Carolina is in a strong
position to effectively increase production for the state’s growing
local food market.
Typical North Carolina crops wil be examined under varying
conditions of biochar amendments on two separate farm sites.
Testing wil occur on both Privateer Farm and on a second,
neighboring farm owned and operated by professional agronomist
W. Scott Weathington.
Biochar research was first
inspired by the discovery of Terra
Preta, or “black earth”, soils in the
Amazon River Basin, where an
ancient civilization buried charcoal,
along with fish bones, kitchen scraps, The NC Farm Center and BiocharSystems are dedicated
compost, and pottery shards, to promoting the understanding and the multiple uses of biochar
transforming otherwise barren tropical and its technology. At Privateer Farm, we practice whole
soil into Terra Preta. These soils are systems management and welcome new ideas for improving the
stil incredibly fertile today. demonstration of biochar potential.
“Farmers, ranchers and forest landowners can play a
The results of the NC Farm Center project are important
to affirm the varied benefits and improvements to soil fertility very important role in addressing climate change and creating
management and sustainable forest management possible with a new energy economy. Biochar has the potential to create
Biochar. By investing in the first available mobile Pyrolysis machine, opportunities for the agriculture and forestry sectors to mitigate
manufactured by BioSystems LLC and Bioengineering Corp., the the effects of a changing climate while creating jobs in rural
Center hopes to demonstrate an innovative technology and prove communities and offering new income sources to landowners.
that Biochar can help farmers and forest landowners. The NC Landowners may eventually use biochar as a soil amendment
Farm Center hopes the findings wil help stimulate a rural green to improve agricultural production and enhance carbon storage,
economy in North Carolina. with income potential from sale of carbon offsets.“
--US Agricultural Secretary Vilsack, Aug 10, 2009