The Economic Value of Biochar in Crop Production and Carbon ...

Table 3Comparison of profits from winter wheat production a (US$ per acre), with and without biocharapplication.Scenario Revenue CO 2OffsetValue bWithout biochar oragricultural lime applicationTotalCost cCost ofAg Lime dCost ofBiochar dProfit e$438 — $415 — — $23With ag lime application $694 — $415 $133 — $146With biochar application, when offset price is $1/MT CO 2 and the price of biochar (P B ) is…P B1 = $350.74/metric ton f $694 $90 $415 — $10,740 -$10,371P B2 = $114.05/metric ton g $694 $90 $415 — $3,492 -$3,123P B3 = $87/metric ton f $694 $90 $415 — $2,664 -$2,295With biochar application, when offset price is $31/MT CO 2 and the price of biochar (P B ) is…P B1 = $350.74/metric ton f $694 $2,799 $415 — $10,740 -$7,662P B2 = $114.05/metric ton g $694 $2,799 $415 — $3,492 -$414P B3 = $87/metric ton f $694 $2,799 $415 — $2,664 $414Figures for the revenue, CO 2 offset value, cost and profit are rounded to the nearest whole number.a The assumed base soil pH is 4.5. Biochar or agricultural lime application is intended to raise the assumed soil pHto 6.b CO 2 Offset Value = 90.29 metric tons of CO 2 offset per acre from avoided emissions of lime and biochar Csequestration (see Appendix) times the price of CO 2 offset ($1 or $31 per MT CO 2 ).c From 2008 Enterprise Budget for Eastern Whitman County, Conventional Tillage (Painter, unpub.). To illustratethe estimation of a farmer’s profits with and without ag lime or biochar application, we chose Eastern WhitmanCounty as example based on Mahler et al. (1985). The study found that the pH of soils in eastern Washington hadsignificantly declined. By 1980, more than 65 percent in Whitman County had a soil pH less than 6.d Excludes the cost of applying lime or biochar to agricultural land (machinery and labor cost).e Profit = Revenue + CO 2 offset value – Total Cost – Ag Lime Cost – Biochar Cost. All are in US$ per acre.fObtained from Granatstein et al. (2009)g Based on the energy content of a wood-based biochar.23