Assessing the influence of biochar preparation methods on soil health in diverse managed ecosystems

Assessing the influence of biochar preparation methods on soil health  in diverse managed ecosystems

By:  Dovetail Partners’ Associate: Harry Groot & Published by Dovetail Partners May 2025 

The project, “Assessing the influence of biochar preparation methods on soil health in
diverse managed ecosystems” was awarded to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University (Virginia Tech) in 2022 by the United States Department of Agriculture,
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI),
project number 2022-67019-36960. 

The objective of the research project is to evaluate methods for producing and activating
biochar as a soil amendment for improving soil health in diverse managed ecosystems.
Biochar applications improve soil health in a variety of ecosystems, primarily through
modifying soil microstructure in ways that enhance aggregation and hydraulic properties.
Using a combination of field experiments, advanced imaging techniques, and modeling,
the project examined the mechanisms by which biochar influences soil structural and
hydraulic properties. and, thereby, the mobility of nutrients, carbon sequestration, and
microbial communities in controlled field studies across a range of managed agricultural
systems (pasture, row-crop, forest) and soil types (fine and coarse texture soils across 6
orders). The project included biochar experiments to encompass a range of temporal
perspectives on the benefits of biochar to growers and the long-term implications for how
biochar potentially influences multiple indicators of soil health.