{"id":3897,"date":"2023-09-04T17:03:40","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T17:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theoaktree.us\/?p=3897"},"modified":"2023-09-07T11:08:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T11:08:37","slug":"is-biochar-the-solution-versus-extreme-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoaktree.us\/?p=3897","title":{"rendered":"Is Biochar the solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Big Farms and Flawless Fries Are Gulping Water \nin the Land of 10,000 Lakes<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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New York Times\u00d6\u00a0Dionne Searcey<\/a>\u00a0drove across Minnesota and\u00a0Mira Rojanasakul<\/a>\u00a0analyzed decades of water data to report this article. Photographs by\u00a0David Guttenfelder<\/a>.
The second article in a series on the causes and consequences of disappearing water.<\/span><\/p>

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When Minnesota farmers cranked up their wells in a drought, they blew through state limits. Thirsty crops included corn, soybeans and perfect, fry-friendly potatoes.<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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THE DROUGHT THAT GRIPPED MINNESOTA\u00a0in the summer of 2021 was one of the worst on record. Day after day a blazing sun shriveled leaves, dried up waterfalls and turned ponds to puddles.<\/p>

In a state known for its 10,000 lakes, many people could do little except hope for rain.<\/p>

But big farmers had another option. They cranked up their powerful irrigation wells, drenching their fields\u00a0with so much water<\/a>\u00a0that they collectively pumped at least 6.1 billion gallons more groundwater than allowed under state permits. Nearly a third of the overuse happened on land affiliated with one company, R.D. Offutt Farms.<\/p>

The water helped R.D. Offutt to achieve its objective of creating long, smooth potatoes that effortlessly sail through the slicers at frozen food processors so Americans could have one of their favorite foods: McDonald\u2019s French fries.<\/p>

It takes a lot of water to make a perfect fry.<\/p>

By turning on the taps in the depths of drought, R.D. Offutt and other farmers in the state \u2014 where thousands of wells irrigate potatoes and other water-intensive crops like corn, soybeans and sugar beets \u2014\u00a0blew through limits<\/a>\u00a0designed to protect aquifers that supply drinking water to millions of people.<\/p>

For some Minnesotans, it significantly worsened the drought\u2019s effects. And it exposed how dependent much of the state has become on aquifers that are fragile and often poorly understood.<\/p>

The increasing overuse of groundwater is a nationwide problem, a\u00a0New York Times data investigation<\/a>\u00a0found, with big cities and industrial farms alike draining aquifers at alarming rates. The practice threatens not only drinking water supplies for millions of Americans but also the nation\u2019s status as a leading exporter of food.<\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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What does the Science say about Biochar and it's effect on Irregation and Yields?<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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After reading the article in The New York Times<\/a> The Oaktree decided to look at the top three most common crops in South Carolina, Corn, Cotton, and Soybeans<\/span><\/p>

1. Corn<\/b>
There have been a number of studies that have shown the benefits of biochar for improving crop yields and reducing the need for irrigation. For example, one study<\/a> found that the addition of biochar to maize fields in Mexico increased yields by 15% and reduced the need for irrigation by 25%.<\/span><\/p>

There are several other studies conducted around the world, and they all come to the same conclusion, Biochar reduces the need for irrigation and increases the yields.<\/span><\/p>

2. Cotton<\/b>
The excessive drought will bring an increased salinity to the soil, which will increase the stress on the crops, to reduce the stress, the University of Copenhagen and the Wageningen University in the Netherlands looked at the Effect of biochar addition and reduced irrigation regimes on growth, physiology and water use efficiency of cotton plants under salt stress.\u00a0<\/p>

The conclusion was:
<\/b>We concluded from the experiment that both salt stress and reduced irrigation had an inhibitory effect on the growth and physiology of cotton plants. Salt stress increased WUEp and WUEy although it reduced gas exchange parameters, leaf area, chlorophyll content, plant water use, dry biomass, and yield of cotton plants. Meanwhile, salinity changed the source-sink relationship, causing a decrease in dry biomass allocated to the stems and an increase in dry biomass allocated to roots, bolls, and seed cotton, thus increasing the root-to-shoot ratio and harvest index. The biochar amendment effectively alleviated salt stress and improved gas exchange parameters and leaf area, resulting in lower dry biomass allocation ratio in the roots and higher dry biomass allocation ratio in the bolls, thus improving dry biomass and yield, leading to an increase in lint ginning out turn, harvest index and WUEy by 0.21%\u201328.69%, 5.07%\u201314.39% and 5.83%\u201332.44%, respectively.<\/p>

3. Soybean
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One study, published in the journal “Soil Science Society of America Journal” in 2018,<\/a> found that biochar application increased the water-holding capacity of soil by 20%, which led to a 15% increase in soybean yield. The study also found that biochar application reduced the amount of water needed for irrigation by 10%.<\/b><\/p>

There have been several other studies all coming to the same conclusion, Biochar reduces the need for irrigation and improves the yields.<\/i><\/b><\/p>

Savings for the farmer
<\/b>1. Irrigation comes with a cost and most likely it will increase in areas where the droughts become more frequent.The average irrigation cost per acre in the US on an annual basis is $200 to $600. The actual cost can vary depending on a number of factors, including the type of irrigation system used, the source of water, the crop being irrigated, and the local water rates.<\/span><\/p>

Here are some of the factors that affect irrigation costs:<\/b><\/p>