Demonstration of silvopasture and the incorporation of biochar production and utilization, to augment the effectiveness and mitigate implementation costs of silvopasture and other climate-smart agricultural practices.

An Airburner Inc., CharBoss® portable biochar machine will be used to produce biochar from timber harvesting residue, which coupled with commercially-available biochar, will be used to potentially improve carbon sequestration, seedling survival, sapling growth, soil health characteristics (pH, bulk density, and water holding capacity) and forage production. A silvopasture demonstration area will be improved by amendments of biochar and expanded to implement silvopasture shelterbelts and forested riparian areas. The economic feasibility of CharBoss-created biochar, and commercially available biochar will be investigated. Additional factors such as forest fuel reduction, improvement in tree survival, improved forage production or carbon sequestration credits that potentially effect various scenarios associated with biochar benefits also will be considered. Major anticipated benefits of biochar are improvement in forage production, seedlings survival and growth and several soil characteristics such as carbon concentration, which can be economically quantified. Additionally, soil water holding capacity is expected to increase, which although difficult to quantify economically, could yield substantial future benefits in terms of improved forage production, tree growth and a myriad of other sustainability and ecosystem service benefits.