TESS to lead $1 million compost-biochar CFI project

This work in tropical Queensland may have future application and interest in SEA...

"TESS researcher Michael Bird will lead a consortium that will field trial compost, biochar and compost-biochar (COMBI) mixes on nine farms in North Queensland. The project is funded by the Federal Governments DAFF Carbon Farmin INitiative - Filling the Research Gap program.

Compost and biochar are used separately for improving soil condition and sequestering carbon, and have been shown to be of particular benefit in tropical agricultural soils. This project will mix biochar with organic waste prior to composting (COMBI-mix) to synergistically enhance the acknowledged benefits of both materials. We will (i) trial business as usual, compost alone, biochar alone, COMBI-mix and compost mixed with biochar at nine field sites across North Queensland, (ii) determine the impact of each on carbon sequestration, GHG fluxes and crop performance (iii) provide inputs to better model soil carbon in agricultural systems and (iv) model costs/benefits at the farm/regional/industry scale.

Funding body: DAFF - Carbon Farming Futures - Filling the Research Gap Programme"

Professor Michael Bird FRSE
Federation Fellow

Director, Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
James Cook University
PO Box 6811 Cairns
Queensland, 4870, Australia
Phone:  +61-7-4042-1137
Fax: +61-7-4042-1284
email: michael.bird@jcu.edu.au
location: building A2 room 219

https://plone.jcu.edu.au/researchatjcu/research/tess/