Agenda

CONFERENCE DAY ONE
Thursday 27 May 2010

DAY ONE | DAY TWO

THE POLICY MAKERS: ADVANCING TOWARDS SUSTAINED POLICY

8.30 Registration and Morning Coffee

9.00 Opening Remarks from the Chair

9.10 A Few Advances in Biochar from Home and Abroad

• The USA
• India
• Australia

Jerome Matthews, Executive Officer, Asia Pacific, World Biochar Corporation

9.50 Biochar: C Sequestration, Soils and Beyond

• Examples of biochar research in Australia: DAFF and GRDC projects
• What is "biochar" - how long is a piece of string?
• The buck stops here: is soil the limit of applications?
• Black is black - or is it? The various shades of grey of biochar

Evelyn Krull, Research Scientist Land and Water, CSIRO

10.30 Morning Tea

11.00 From the City to Soil

• Using organic waste in agriculture
• Beyond sustainability - limitations of the current agricultural model
• Soil as the basis of economy
• Engaging the community - the power of the people
• Composts, biology and biochar

Gerry Gillespie, President, Zero Waste Australia

11.40 Black Dynamite: The Policy Framework for Terrestrial Carbon

• Synergies between environmental, aid and food security objectives
• Avoiding land market distortion and 'churning'
• Financial and legal risks for farmers
• Soil carbon accounting - Kyoto compliant or not?
• Monitoring, reporting and verification challenges
• Is biochar viable in the absence of a mandated carbon market?

David Eyre, Policy Manager, NSW Farmers

12.20 Lunch

1.30 What can Biochar do for Australian Soil?

• Current state of soil health in the Glenelg Catchment
• Biochar potential to alter the current situation
• The potential of biochar
• Sustainable land management systems

Doug Phillips, Manager of Greening Australia Victoria's South West Seedbank and Revegetation Centre, Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Authority

RESEARCHERS AND PRODUCERS

2.10 A Sustainable Biochar Industry Must be Sustainable - Beware the "Black Dust" Carpet Baggers

• The crucial role of biomass in a carbon constrained, resource depleted world
• Sustainable supply
• Fit-for-purpose products and applications
• Evolving technologies
• Delivering the whole value proposition

Mark Glover, Director, Eco Waste Pty Ltd

2.50 Afternoon Tea

3.30 Making Biochar

• Gaining financial backing

Dr Stewart McGlashan, Managing Director, Anthroterra Pty

4.00 Engineered Biochar

• ANZ biochar researchers network standard production

Adriana Downie, Chief Technology Officer, Pacific Pyrolysis

4.40 Marketing your Product
Jubal Hill, Outback Biochar

5.20 Close of Conference Day One

CONFERENCE DAY TWO
Friday 28 May 2010

DAY ONE | DAY TWO

BUSINESS MODELS AND CASE STUDIES

8.30 Registration and Morning Coffee

9.00 Opening Remarks from the Chair

9.10 Keynote Address from Senator for South Australia
Senator for South Australia, Simon Birmingham; Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Action

9.30 Practicalities of Biochar as an Industry Co-Product

• Biochar as part of agribusiness supply chains
• Practical Northern Poultry Cluster (NPC) experience (trials to date, commercialisation needs, investment)

Russell Burnett, Managing Director, Biochar-Energy Systems Pty Ltd and Wayne Street, General Manager, Northern Poultry Cluster Ltd

10.10 Commercialistion Case Study: Taking the First Steps
> In depth look into a real business model
> Analysing the challenges and overcoming them
Tony Hunt, General Manager Environment and Climate Change Solutions, Transfield Services

10.50 Morning Tea

REGIONAL OUTLOOKS

11.30 PAPER PRESEN TATION: The Potential to Use Biochar in Regional Australia and Developing Countries to Generate Renewable Energy, Increased Crop Productivity and Offset Greenhouse Gas Emissions on a Large Scale

> A systems approach to the deployment of new groundbreaking pyrolysis technology
> The efficiency and cost of biochar and renewable energy production delivered in a modular system
> The potential to increase crop productivity in broad scale and “village” scale applications
> Current political and technical barriers

Syd Shea, Research Director, Rainbow Bee Eater Pty Ltd
Syd will be presenting a paper on behalf of his co-authors S.R. Shea, P. Burgess, I . Stanley, J. Herbertson, Les Stresov and A. Manchini

12.10 Agro-Economic Evaluation of Biochar Results from Field Trial Assessments in Northern NSW

• Biochar assessment, characterisation
• Agricultural valuation based on fertiliser value and gross margin analysis
• Environmental valuation

Dr. Lukas Van Zweiten, Principal Research Scientist, NSW Department of Primary Industries

12.50 Lunch

1.40 Biochar R&D Update in the Wild West

• Rural business models
• Commercial developments
• Research into crop and pasture nutrition
• Research into biochar-mineral complexes
• Looking over the rise in the road

DEVELOPING A BUSINESS MODEL: KEY SUSTAINABILITY, BRANDING AND MARKETING

2.20 Commercialising Biochar Technology
Matthew Warnken, Managing Director, Crucible Carbon

3.00 Afternoon Tea

3.30 Gaining Financial Backing for your Biochar Project
Patrick Dale, Director, Environmental Finance Solutions, NAB Institutional Banking, National Australia Bank

4.10 Building a Sustainable Business Plan

• The supply chain approach
• Assessing the risk and opportunities
• Getting the systems in place for Sustainability branding

Dr. Alice Woodhead, Director, Link Strategy

4.50 Sustainable biomass production
Mark Glover, Director, Eco Waste Pty Ltd

5.30 End of Biochar Conference

Back to top