Sustainable Production and Distribution of Bioenergy for the Central USA
Is biochar a good soil amendment for home gardens?
To answer this question, University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners and Iowa State Master Gardeners tested the productivity of vegetable and flower gardens amended with biochar at four Minnesota sites and three sites in Iowa from 2012-2015.
The Evaluation Team assesses learning and behavior change resulting from extension and outreach activities, compiling evaluation results and preparing reports, and coordination of team meetings. Sorrel Brown (Iowa State University) is CenUSA's lead evaluator.
This Team concentrates on creating and promoting professional development activities and a useful body of approachable educational materials for Extension educators and agricultural and horticultural industry leaders with a special emphasis on materials development.
The Outreach and Extension team delivered science-based knowledge and informal education programs to farmers, the ag industry and to youth programs linked to 4H and FFA. The team produced extensive educational materials which are available in our Resource Library page.
Their goals included:
This team integrates its work with the Producer Research Plots/Perennial Grass and Broader Public, Master Gardener & Youth Programs teams.
Through our partnership with eXtension and the University of Vermont all our Extension and Outreach Fact Sheets and Research Summaries are available through the eXtension Farm Energy website. To access the resources, click on the links below.
The Team focuses on the development of crop enterprise decision support tools to analyze the economic possibilities associated with converting acreage from existing conventional crops to energy biomass feedstock crops.
This team focuses on four aspects of perennial crop and biochar agriculture:
