Last November Bloomberg Markets did an article on the demand of fertilizer Brazillian farmers are using to rapidly grow their crops to meet ethanol-fueled demand. Now, it seems at though there may be some very old techniques using charcoal to fertilize land in the area.
“In South America, the fertile soil of the Amazon River basin in Brazil is known as “black gold.” Scientists found that the secret to this rich soil was charcoal. Tribal people made it from animal bones and tree bark. They mixed the charcoal with the soil about one thousand five hundred years ago.
Now, scientists in the United States have done a modern demonstration. They say charcoal fertilization offers a revolutionary way to improve soil quality for hundreds or even thousands of years.”
Using Charcoal to Make Soil Into Black Gold
Apparently this Charcoal Fertilizer is doing wonders for farmers south of the Amazon in Brazil the same way it helped tribesmen 1,500 years ago: watch out Potash!
charcoal fertilizers may be rich in some minerals necessary in cultivating agricultural commodities. Other nececssary components for plant growth like nitrogen may be lost in the manufacturing of charcoal. As fossil fuel prices rise, fossil fuel intensive concentrated-mineral manufacturing processes may suffer. thats a hell of a damn sentence. “Alternative” mineral fertilizing agents, and their respective less fossil-fuel intensive manufacturing techniques, may take on a more prominant role within our larger agricultural community in future years. Personally, I like seaweed.