We would like to thank our co-researcher on this project, Dr. William Brinton, of the University of Maine & the Will Brinton Foundation (formerly the Woods End Agricultural Institute). We appreciated Dr. Brinton's decades of experience in soil science and organic farming, focusing on potentially bio-available soil nutrients and organic matter recycling.
We would also like to thank the farmers and scientists who we interviewed as part of the Biochar for Farmers documentary film. The film follows the biochar field trials that we conducted at Arthur’s Point Farm, testing biochar and compost in a newly planted chestnut orchard. Alongside the field research, we explain how biochar is made and share findings from a comprehensive scientific literature review focused on biochar’s agronomic performance, particularly in temperate climates and agroforestry systems. We also take the question on the road, visiting farms across the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, and Western Massachusetts, and speaking directly with soil scientists and biochar researchers at Cornell University and the University of Maine.
Our goal was simple: give farmers, extension teams, researchers, policymakers, and curious viewers an honest, up-to-date picture of what biochar can do, what it cannot do, and where the hype runs ahead of the data. The film was produced and co-directed by Costa Boutsikaris of Inhabit Films and David Newman of Arthur's Point Farm.
This project, including the field research and scientific literature review, was funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program under subaward number LNE22-452R. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
