CONSISTENCY AND FOCUS LEADS TO SUCCESS
How did you get into the biochar business?
My brother, while working on his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Missouri (UM) in the late 90s, used biochar to absorb radioactive isotopes. My father, a UM Professor of Chemical Engineering was also researching biochar properties in the early 2010s. So, my family has known about some of the interesting properties of biochar for quite some time.
We also did some of our own experiments with soil – I had an area in my yard where grass would not grow – and we found that biochar really helped. After I used it, the grass started growing really well. Biochar is not a miracle product but my eyes were wide open when I saw how well it worked for me. My professional background is in marketing. My thought was, I can sell this stuff! This is a simple material with many beneficial uses.
How did you go about getting a supply of biochar to sell? What were your biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge was finding a consistent product. Biochar can have variable properties, and in order to scale up we had to find a high quality, high volume supplier of biochar with consistent properties. We tried samples from all over the country and invested a lot in testing and finding qualified testing labs. Most of the labs we are working with are still in a learning mode on biochar. The cost of freight is another big challenge.
You just received FSC certification for Wakefield Biochar. How important is that to you?
It is very important. Wakefield Biochar is the first biochar product to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, the gold standard of sustainable forestry certifications. Our goal is to paint the larger picture of what biochar can do. It’s not just about soil. It’s also about sustainability and making use of a waste stream that would normally sit in a landfill.
What will it take for you to get to the next level of biochar market penetration and sales?
We have done really well with our retail products – we offer several different biochar amendments and biochar-based soil blends. The last few years we have spent preparing our company to scale up responsibly. That hard work has already started to pay off in 2021. We are very thankful for the work that the biochar community has done to educate the public. People now know about the benefits and they want to try it. As the demand for biochar grows, we are prepared with our distribution plans. It is also critical that consumer information continue to grow. We offer a lot of educational resources on our site, and we want to do more. The new USBI Biochar Learning Database is a great resource that we are now including on our website at WakefieldBiochar.com.