Biochar provides a unique opportunity to improve soil fertility for the long term using locally available materials. Used alone, or in combinations, compost, manure and/or agrochemicals are added at certain rates every year to soils, in order to realize benefits. Application rates of these can be reduced when nutrients are combined with biochar. Biochar remains in the soil, and single applications can provide benefits over many years. Farmers can also receive an energy yield when converting organic residues into biochar by capturing energy given off in the biochar production process. In both industrialized and developing countries, soil loss and degradation is occurring at unprecedented rates, with profound consequences for soil ecosystem properties. In many regions, loss in soil productivity occurs despite intensive use of agrochemicals, concurrent with adverse environmental impacts on soil and water resources. Biochar can play a major role in expanding options for sustainable soil management by improving upon existing best management practices, not only to improve soil productivity but also to decrease nutrient loss through leaching by percolating water.
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