Vegan Organic Network

Improved soil condition, increased yields and reduced global warming are just three of the huge potential benefits of biochar, the residue obtained from burning biomass in a fire without oxygen.

Craig Sams of Carbon Gold, writing in the summer edition of the Vegan-Organic Network’s magazine Growing Green International, is clear about biochar’s future role: “We should minimise burning biomass and avoid feeding it to animals – turning it into biochar is our single most effective tool to reverse global warming.”

Sams explains how the addition of biochar to the soil can reduce the need for fertilisers and watering. As biochar stays permanently in the soil, it makes a contribution to carbon dioxide and methane reduction and reduces nitrate leaching, thus lowering emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.

Biochar is an exciting potential source of income for upland farmers who are struggling to make a living from livestock. Worldwide, more than half of farmland (6 billion hectares) is devoted to producing animal feed. If just 2 billion hectares converted to biochar production, it is estimated that 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide would be permanently removed from the atmosphere every year.

Sams calls for an end to government subsidies for meat producers, currently in the form of artificially cheap animal feeds and a lack of carbon accounting or carbon taxes. His company, Carbon Gold, is producing biochar from Soil Association-certified organic woodland waste and thinnings. Simple pyrolosis equipment for producing your own biochar is expected to be available in autumn 2009. See www.carbongold.com

The Vegan-Organic Network now has over 35 affiliated stockfree organic farmers and growers, half in the UK and the rest overseas, mainly in North America. With topics as varied as the importance of earthworms for soil structure, sensational seaweed and solar tractors, Growing Green International is a treasure trove of articles about stockfree growing around the world.

Read Craig Sams’ article in full on the VON website: www.veganorganic.net

For further information, see: www.veganorganic.net   www.stockfreeorganic.net

-ENDS-
Notes to Editor

(1) Founded in 1996, the Vegan-Organic Network is an ambitious charity with an international network of active supporters. It aims to research and promote vegan-organic (stockfree) methods of agriculture and horticulture so that clean, green, cruelty-free food becomes widely available.

It publishes a magazine “Growing Green International” and advice leaflets. There is also a free advice service for members of the public, home growers, smallholders and farmers. The Network organises farm walks, allotment and garden visits and volunteer placements on stockfree holdings.

(2) VON’s stockfree organic standards inspected by the Soil Association are available for farmers and growers who wish to grow produce in the most ethical and environmentally-friendly way. The stockfree organic symbol is the consumer’s guarantee of “organic plus” food.

(3) Craig Sams has been involved in developing the market for organic foods since 1967, founding Whole Earth Foods and Green & Black's. He runs an organic orchard and field scale vegetable operation in East Sussex as well as an organic bakery and retail store specialising in local and organic produce. He is the author of The Little Food Book, which argues the case for organic food and farming from a social, political, environmental and nutritional aspect.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sally Ford – Press Officer

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