A global study across 48 field sites shows that a new process-based model can predict how biochar affects crop yields, soil carbon, and greenhouse gas emissions under diverse real-world conditions.
Biochar, a carbon-rich material made by heating biomass in limited oxygen, has gained attention as a promising tool for climate-smart agriculture. It can help soils store carbon, retain nutrients and water, support crop production, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet one major question has remained difficult to answer: where, when, and how much biochar should be applied to achieve the best results?
A new study published in Biochar offers a step toward answering that question. Researchers developed and evaluated a process-based model called DLEM-Ag-Biochar, designed to simulate how biochar interacts with crops, soils, water, nitrogen, soil organic carbon, and greenhouse gas emissions. The model was tested using data from 48 globally distributed field experiment sites across 12 countries, covering four climate zones, 10 soil texture classes, six cropping systems, and 11 biochar feedstocks.
“Biochar is not a one-size-fits-all solution,” said corresponding author Dr. Wei Ren. “Its benefits depend strongly on local climate, soil texture, crop type, and application rate. Our goal was to develop a modeling tool that can help translate scattered field observations into practical, site-specific guidance.”
The model focused on three widely grown crops, maize, wheat, and soybean, which are central to global food production and well represented in existing biochar field datasets. It evaluated three key indicators of climate-smart agriculture: crop yield, soil organic carbon, and carbon dioxide emissions.
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