Home Grown: Bio-charcoal soil helps retain carbon and water

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - In today's Home Grown, growers are experimenting with new ways to increase carbon in soil.

Soil is naturally very low in carbon and other organic matter. 

A popular soil amendment is dairy manure, but it breaks down in the soil very quickly.

So now, one local farmer is conducting field trials on bio-char, a type of soil made out of charcoal.

"We're experimenting with new types of soil amendments like biochar which is almost like a charcoal," said assistant agricultural agent Robert Masson of the Yuma County Cooperative Extension. "It adds lots of organic carbon to the soil but it's stable, sometimes 500 years or 1,000 years."

To put it in perspective, dairy manure only lasts about two to three years.

The bio-char trials are testing its water holding capacity and pH levels. 

So far, bio-char has been very successful in retaining water and fertilizer.