Wood Waste Based Biochar Deal to be Used as Carbon Negative Soil Amendment : Vega Biofuels Scores High Returns from Alaskan Legal Cannabis Grower
Norcross, Georgia based Vega Biofuels, (OTCPink:VGPR) has signed a five year Agreement to provide its wood waste based Biochar to legal cannabis growers in Alaska.
The company explained that the state of Alaska is the most recent state to legalise both medical and recreational cannabis use and that the greement with AK Provisions, located in Anchorage is its largest single order for Biochar.
Biochar is a highly absorbent specially designed charcoal-type product primarily used as a soil enhancement for the agricultural industry to significantly increase crop yields.
According to Vega the production of Biochar for carbon sequestration in the soil is a carbon-negative process. It is made from timber waste using the company’s patent pending torrefaction technology.
When put back into the soil, biochar is claimed to stabilise the carbon in the soil for hundreds of years. The company said that the introduction of biochar into soil is not like applying fertiliser; it is the beginning of a process.
Benefits
Most of the benefit is achieved through microbes and fungi. They colonise its massive surface area and integrate into the char and the surrounding soil, dramatically increasing the soil’s ability to nurture plant growth and provide increased crop yield.
For plants that require high potash and elevated pH, Biochar can be used as a soil amendment to significantly improve yield.
Biochar is also claimed to improve water quality, reduce soil emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce nutrient leaching, reduce soil acidity, and reduce irrigation and fertilizer requirements.
Vega added that the materials was also found under certain circumstances to induce plant systemic responses to foliar fungal diseases and to improve plant responses to diseases caused by soil-borne pathogens.
However, the various impacts were said to be dependent on the properties of the Biochar, as well as the amount applied, regional conditions including soil type, soil condition (depleted or healthy), temperature, and humidity.
Modest additions of Biochar to soil are claimed to reduce nitrous oxide N2O emissions by up to 80% and eliminates methane emissions, which are both more potent greenhouse gases than CO2.
High Returns
AK Provisions, Inc. plans to use Vega’s Biochar in its own grow Indoor grow facilities which harvest their plants four times per year and start with new soil each time.
The company will also market the product to other growers throughout the state of Alaska through a reseller agreement with Vega Biofuels.
The initial order is for 75 super sacks of Biochar. Each super sack holds approximately 400 pounds (180kg),
“By the pound, Biochar is much more profitable to the Company than our Bio-coal energy product and will have a noticeable impact on the Company’s bottom line. The products are similar but each has its own unique qualities,” commented Michael K. Molen, Chairman/CEO of Vega Biofuels, Inc.
“We sell Bio-coal by the ton and Biochar is sold by the pound. Growers in other states are reporting significant increases in their crop yields when using Biochar as their soil enhancement,” he added.
“We plan to use the AK Provisions model as we increase our marketing efforts in other states that have recently approved growing legal cannabis,
concluded Molen.
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