CENTRAL VALLEY – Biochar is not a household word yet, but if a joint venture between Earlimart’s Treehouse California Almonds (Treehouse) and Soledad’s Sito Group proves successful, Valley farmers may soon be placing orders for the substance that has the potential to transform how row crops and other products are grown.
On Oct. 28, 2024, Treehouse announced it had entered into an agreement with Sito to construct a $9 million slow pyrolysis biochar facility in Delano. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines pyrolysis as “the heating of an organic material, such as biomass, in the absence of oxygen. Biomass pyrolysis is usually conducted at or above 500 °C, providing enough heat to deconstruct the strong biopolymers mentioned above.”
In plain language, the process renders materials, such as almond shells, into a charcoal-like substance that, when applied to soil, removes carbon from the atmosphere by trapping it in the soil – a process known as carbon sequestration.
According to a study from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), biochar accounts for 93% of CO2 removal in the durable carbon market worldwide.
Other benefits of biochar include:
- Enhanced soil quality and moisture retention;
- Improved nutrient holding capacity;
- Reduced need for chemical fertilizers;
- Support for beneficial soil microorganisms; and
- Decreased nutrient runoff.
OASIS VINEYARD TRIAL RESULTS
Jessica Bronner works in Sito’s marketing and public relations department. Bronner said biochar is not new.
“It’s been around for thousands of years,” she said. “It’s been used in the Amazon (region) for years.”
The material only recently came to the U.S. agriculture space. “As you know, farmers are very traditional,” said Bronner. “They’re going to do what their grandfathers did and their grandfathers before them. So, introducing this new product, which is a new way of farming, involves a lot of education, testing and advocacy.”
Bronner said California vineyards have widely adopted the use of biochar for wine grapes. She said the industry embraced the use of biochar following the results of an eight-year study funded by the California Department of Water Resources.
The trial, which began in 2016, was located on eight acres of vineyards located in Monterey County. The study involved the use of biochar and compost treatments in newly established vineyards. The trial measured harvest yields, harvest yields by season, the economic impact and grape quality.
Researchers collected data over seven years, which covered five growing seasons. According to the results, harvest yields increased by an average of more than 35% when biochar and compost were applied together.
All growing seasons showed a high percentage of yield improvement. The combination of biochar and compost increased the yield by 70% in the third growing season. Revenue increased steadily year after year, with the fifth harvest boasting additional revenues of $9,752, $12,569 and $14,937, where biochar and compost were applied, respectively.
Researchers found that the grape quality was not significantly affected.
6,000 POUNDS OF SHELL PER HOUR
Bronner said Sito launched its first pilot facility in July 2023 at a regional waste facility in Salinas. To date, the company has established pilot programs to produce biochar.
“This partnership with Treehouse Almonds will be our first commercial facility,” she said.
Sito is putting up the money; Treehouse is putting up the almond shells. Joe Gardiner is Treehouse vice president of business operations. He said the almond shells left over from the shelling process at the Earlimart facility are primarily used for animal bedding at local dairies. When the 25,000 square foot Delano facility is in operation – at the end of 2025 – it will be able to process 6,000 pounds of shells per hour.
Bronner said Sito expects the plant to process about 24,000 tons of almond shell per year, which will yield about 8,000 tons of biochar per year.
She said Monterey Pacific LLC, a Sito sister company, manages over 20,000 acres of vineyards in California. Monterey Pacific will take the first biochar yield from the Delano plant and use it in new and existing vineyards.
Gardiner said in addition to biochar, pyrolysis produces energy. The company has plans for this.
“In the pyrolysis process,” he said, “there’s energy created. The plan now is to put that energy back into the (power) grid. Sell it back. As we look long term, we’d like to develop ways to harness that energy ourselves. To fuel our own plant operations.”
Bronner said that the benefits of biochar extend beyond the financial. Valley agriculture – and California agriculture in general – is facing desertification. Desertification is a type of land degradation in which dry lands become increasingly arid, eventually losing its bodies of water, vegetation, wildlife and forcing its inhabitants to relocate.
Bronner explained, “Tradition ag is basically tilling the soil, taking from the soil, adding synthetic fertilizers to the soil so it will continue to produce year after year.” Eventually, the soil gives out – it runs out of nutrients, biomes and microorganisms, the elements required to produce crops.
“The desertification happening in California is massive,” she said. “It’s happening under all our noses.”
According to a July 6, 2021 map that shows desertification across the state, areas around Sacramento, Los Angeles and Fresno are highly vulnerable to desertification. By sequestering CO2 in the earth and trapping moisture, Bronner said biochar can help reverse the damage caused by desertification.
Bronner said biochar is an essential component to regenerative agriculture.
“Regenerative ag is working with the soil to bring back life to the soil,” said Bronner. “There are six core principles of regenerative agriculture and biochar plays a vital role in promoting all of them.”
These principles include cover cropping, minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing crop diversity, maintaining living roots year-round, integrating livestock and understanding the context of a farm’s operations.
“With regenerative ag, you’re taking from the soil when you harvest, but you’re also giving back to it,” Bronner said. “It regenerates itself. All the soil, all the microbiome. All the microorganisms are regenerating and not just being stripped from the soil.”
