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
"
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