The economic value of biochar in crop production and carbon sequestration

This paper estimates the economic value of biochar application on agricultural cropland for carbon sequestration and its soil amendment properties. In particular, we consider the carbon emissions avoided when biochar is applied to agricultural soil, instead of agricultural lime, the amount of carbon sequestered, and the value of carbon offsets, assuming there is an established carbon trading mechanism for biochar soil application. We use winter wheat production in Eastern Whitman County, Washington as a case study, and consider different carbon offset price scenarios and different prices of biochar to estimate a farm profit. Our findings suggest that it may be profitable to apply biochar as a soil amendment under some conditions if the biochar market price is low enough and/or a carbon offset market exists.

► We estimate the economic value of biochar application on agricultural cropland.
► We consider biochar's carbon sequestration and soil amendment properties.
► Biochar soil application may be profitable if a carbon offset market exists for it.
► Farmers may use biochar if its market price is low enough to earn a profit.