The Economic Value of Biochar in Crop Production and Carbon Sequestration

Suzette Galinato (), Jonathan Yoder () and David Granatstein ()
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David Granatstein: School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

No 2010-3, Working Papers from School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Biochar; Carbon sequestration; Crop; Farm profitability; Soil amendment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q16 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-ene and nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The economic value of biochar in crop production and carbon sequestration (2011)
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