American Farmland Trust and Partners Publish Results of First National Survey of U.S. Farmers Using or Interested in Biochar, Setting Baseline for this Growing Soil Health Practice
Farmers report observing biochar benefits, including improved soil health, crop yields, soil water-holding capacity, and share challenges
(Washington, DC) American Farmland Trust (AFT) and partners from the American Biochar Institute, Cornell University, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have published the first-of-its-kind National Biochar Survey, to better help farmers and those who serve them understand who is using biochar, why they use it, how they apply it, what results they see, and what challenges still need to be solved for integrating biochar, a charcoal-like material made from waste biomass under high heat and low oxygen, into their agricultural operations.
“When the right sustainably produced biochar is matched to the needs of the soil and production system, and integrated into soil health management systems, it can improve water dynamics, nutrient availability, soil carbon storage, yield, and yield stability. But until now, we knew very little about the farmers and ranchers actually using it,” said AFT Climate and Soil Health Director Dr. Bianca Moebius-Clune. “We are excited to share this first national baseline survey that will allow us to track changes in adoption, results that users see, and needs as biochar supply and support systems for adoption grow.”
AFT and its partners surveyed farmers across the United States through convenience sampling to better understand biochar use, experiences, and needs, and to identify opportunities to accelerate successful adoption. AFT received responses from 367 farmers across 45 states to the online 2025 survey, with 41 percent having used biochar while 59 percent were interested but had not yet applied it.
“What we heard is encouraging: four in five users plan to keep applying biochar,” said Ellen Yeatman, AFT Social Science Analyst and the report’s first author. “Farmers were motivated to use biochar to improve soil health, increase yields, and build drought resilience, and results largely followed. Users reported observing better soil water-holding capacity, more soil biological activity, and higher crop yields.”
Several surveyed farmers praised the benefits of biochar on their soil health. “Biochar has helped build soil health,” said one vegetable farmer responding from North Carolina, noting it had resulted “in plants better resisting soil-borne diseases and pathogens” on their farm.
Researchers found that availability and cost were key challenges faced by both biochar users and non-users. Non-users reported trouble getting financial and technical help nearly twice as often as farmers successfully using biochar. The survey results clearly showed where support is needed, from improving access to a reliable local supply of biochar and reducing its cost to providing practical application guidance so more farmers and ranchers can try biochar with confidence.
Peer-to-peer learning was the most reported source of biochar information among users, which highlights the potential value of accessible, farmer-led outreach – including farmer networks and demonstrations – to reach a broader range of farmers and to expand biochar awareness and knowledge.
Researchers also reported that farm size differed significantly between biochar users and non-users. Biochar users tended to operate smaller farms, less than 50 acres. Most users made their own biochar and applied it at low rates, under 1 ton per acre. Open questions include how to make biochar economical and practical at larger scales and higher application rates.
Producers applied most biochar to fields growing vegetables, specialty crops (e.g., flowers, herbs, timber), and tree fruits. Researchers grouped responses by region to better understand the geographic spread of respondents, with the Northeast having the most survey responses and the Intermountain West-Great Plains region having the least from both biochar users and non-users. Respondents were highly educated, with 76 percent holding a degree beyond high school.
“We need to bridge a possible education gap when it comes to knowledge of biochar,” said Ellen Yeatman. “It’s critical that we make biochar information practical, accessible, and easy to evaluate to expose all farmers with a broader range of educational backgrounds.”
The results of this survey further show AFT and partners that more technical and financial assistance is needed to foster continued biochar adoption in the future. AFT and the American Biochar Institute will continue to host Growing with Biochar trainings designed for researchers, technical service providers, farmers, biochar producers, and conservation planners to provide foundational knowledge on the science and field use of biochar to increase the availability of regionally specific technical guidance. Also, AFT and partners are gearing up to expand the Biochar On-Farm Demonstration Trial Network across the U.S. to continue to break down regional and national barriers to biochar adoption through access to financial and technical assistance, improved decision-support tools, trusted relationships established through peer-to-peer networks, and biochar supplier connections.
"We have known for years that farmers are interested in biochar, but until now, we had no idea how many were actually using it on their farm or had interest in integrating it alongside other conservation practices," said the Director of the New York Center for Organics Recycling and Education at Cornell University Dr. Deborah Aller. "While this survey only represents a fraction of US farmers, it is the first of its kind and helps inform future research, extension, and training efforts for farmers, technical service providers, and others."
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American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms No Food® message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.
