Biochar Capacity Building Program

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, announced the outcomes of the Biochar Capacity Building Program funding round on 24 April 2012. A list of successful projects is available. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry will now implement funding arrangements with successful applicants.

The Biochar Capacity Building Program funding round was highly competitive, with 29 applications received seeking around $10 million in funding.

Biochar is a stable type of char made by heating organic materials, such as wood or crop waste, in a low oxygen environment. It can be added to soil to sequester carbon and therefore has the potential to help mitigate Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions while benefiting agricultural production by improving soil health.

The Biochar Capacity Building Program is a component of the Australian Government’s $46 million Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) and is investing $2 million from 2011-12 to 2013-14 in competitive grants funding. 

The program will help to develop practical mitigation options for land managers by:

• investigating how biochar mitigates greenhouse gas emissions
• demonstrating the use of integrated biochar systems on-farm
• facilitating the development of biochar offset methodologies to enable land managers to participate in domestic and international carbon markets through the CFI.

The CFI voluntary carbon crediting mechanism allows participating land managers to earn additional income from reducing emissions and storing carbon in the landscape. More information on the CFI’s carbon crediting mechanism is available from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

The Biochar Capacity Building Program will build on research undertaken through the Climate Change Research Program, including the National Biochar Initiative which is helping to answer key questions about the use of biochar in Australia.

The Biochar Capacity Building Program complements the $429 million Carbon Farming Futures program, a component of the $1.7 billion Land Sector Package under the government’s Clean Energy Future plan.

The CFI’s Biochar Capacity Building Program together with Carbon Farming Futures will deliver long term benefits to Australian land managers that take action to reduce Australia’s carbon emissions.

The application period for the Biochar Capacity Building Program is now closed and no further applications will be accepted.

The Biochar Capacity Building Program guidelines and DAFF funding deed are available for reference.

• DAFF funding deed PDF [419KB]
• DAFF funding deed Word [1.1MB]

More information

Please call 1800 108 760 or email the Biochar Capacity Building Program.