II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4895 

To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act 

of 1998 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a national 

biochar research network, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. THUNE, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to direct the Secretary of 

Agriculture to establish a national biochar research network, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Biochar Research Net5 work Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL BIOCHAR RESEARCH NETWORK. 

2 Title IV of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and 

3 Education Reform Act of 1998 is amended by inserting 

4 before section 404 (7 U.S.C. 7624) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 403. NATIONAL BIOCHAR RESEARCH NETWORK. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab7 lish a national biochar research network (referred to in 

8 this section as the ‘research network’) of not more than 

9 20 research stations or facilities described in subsection 

10 (c) to test the full range of biochar types across soil types, 

11 soil conditions, application methods, and climatic and ag12 ronomic regions— 

13 ‘‘(1) to assess the soil carbon sequestration po14 tential of biochar; 

15 ‘‘(2) to understand how to use biochar produc16 tively to contribute to climate mitigation, crop pro17 duction, resilience to extreme weather events, eco18 system health, and natural resource conservation; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(3) to deliver science-based, region-specific, 

21 cost-effective, and practical information to farmers, 

22 ranchers, foresters, land reclamation managers, 

23 urban land managers, and other land and natural 

24 resource managers and businesses on sustainable 

25 biochar production and application. 

26 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The research network shall 

2 encompass— 

3 ‘‘(A) agriculture, horticulture, rangeland, 

4 forestry, and other biochar uses; and 

5 ‘‘(B) a broad range of feedstocks, produc6 tion processes, and application treatments. 

7 ‘‘(2) RESEARCH.—The research conducted by 

8 the research network shall include— 

9 ‘‘(A) cross-site and mechanistic experi10 ments— 

11 ‘‘(i) to fill critical knowledge gaps and 

12 gain a more complete understanding of the 

13 impact of various types of biochar in vary14 ing site conditions on soil properties, plant 

15 growth, greenhouse gas emissions, and car16 bon sequestration in different soils, cli17 mates, and other natural and agronomic 

18 conditions; 

19 ‘‘(ii) to provide mechanistic and 

20 technoeconomic insights on thermochemical 

21 conversion processes in biochar production 

22 and the coproduction of biochar and bio23 energy, including interactions of feedstock 

24 properties with reactor conditions and 

25 processes on the relative proportions and 


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1 properties of biochar, biofuels, and value2 added coproducts, as well as process effi3 ciency; 

4 ‘‘(iii) to generate data to develop, cali5 brate, and validate robust mechanistic 

6 models to predict the full life cycle of 

7 greenhouse gas, crop response, and related 

8 agronomic and environmental implications 

9 of particular applications of biochar; 

10 ‘‘(iv) to generate data to help guide 

11 the design of new, more efficient biochar 

12 and bioenergy production reactors and bio13 refineries; and 

14 ‘‘(v) to generate data to develop, cali15 brate, and validate testing methodologies 

16 for biochar to identify potential contami17 nants or other factors that may cause un18 intended consequences; and 

19 ‘‘(B) site-specific farm and forestry sys20 tems assessments and pilot-scale biochar pro21 duction and application systems— 

22 ‘‘(i) to refine the most promising soil23 based uses, sources, and methods of pro24 ducing and applying biochar in particular 

25 regions— 


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1 ‘‘(I) to enhance productivity; 

2 ‘‘(II) to increase profitability, 

3 scalability, and portability; 

4 ‘‘(III) to reduce greenhouse gas 

5 emissions; 

6 ‘‘(IV) to improve ecosystem 

7 health; 

8 ‘‘(V) to strengthen resilience to 

9 extreme weather events; and 

10 ‘‘(VI) to explore soil, crop, cli11 mate, management, and biochar inter12 actions; 

13 ‘‘(ii) to develop new knowledge to sup14 port decisions on sustainable production 

15 and use of biochar; 

16 ‘‘(iii) to collect relevant data needed 

17 for full life cycle greenhouse gas and eco18 nomic analyses and complete those anal19 ysis; 

20 ‘‘(iv) to predict plant response, soil 

21 health, soil carbon sequestration, eco22 system health, water quality, greenhouse 

23 gas, and economic outcomes for specific 

24 implementations of biochar technology; 


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1 ‘‘(v) to provide data to evaluate local 

2 biomass feedstocks, support selection of 

3 sustainable biochar production methods, 

4 and address biochar production issues; and 

5 ‘‘(vi) to share research results to in6 form farmers, horticulturalists, ranchers, 

7 foresters, urban biochar users, extension 

8 agents and specialists, and technical assist9 ance providers on the most advantageous 

10 ways to use biochar to increase profit11 ability, raise productivity, lower costs, im12 prove soil and plant health, and enhance 

13 resilience to extreme weather events while 

14 contributing to carbon sequestration and 

15 greenhouse gas reductions. 

16 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity shall be eligible to be 

17 selected to conduct research as part of the research net18 work if the entity is— 

19 ‘‘(1) a State agricultural experiment station or 

20 a State forestry experiment station; 

21 ‘‘(2) a research facility of the Agricultural Re22 search Service, the Forest Service, or any other 

23 agency of the Department of Agriculture that the 

24 Secretary determines to be appropriate; or 


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1 ‘‘(3) a research facility of the Department of 

2 Energy, the Department of Commerce, or the De3 partment of the Interior. 

4 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The research network shall 

6 be administered by the Administrator of the Agricul7 tural Research Service, in partnership with— 

8 ‘‘(A) the Chief of the Forest Service; 

9 ‘‘(B) the Director of the National Institute 

10 of Food and Agriculture; 

11 ‘‘(C) the Secretary of Energy; 

12 ‘‘(D) the Secretary of Commerce; 

13 ‘‘(E) the Secretary of the Interior; and 

14 ‘‘(F) such other agencies of the Depart15 ment of Agriculture as the Secretary determines 

16 to be appropriate. 

17 ‘‘(2) CONSERVATION.—The Secretary, acting 

18 through the Chief of the Natural Resources Con19 servation Service— 

20 ‘‘(A) may develop a practice standard in21 formed by the research conducted by the re22 search network; and 

23 ‘‘(B) shall coordinate the activities of the 

24 research network with— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the development and refinement 

2 of a biochar conservation practice stand3 ard; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) improvements and expansion of 

5 conservation program technical and finan6 cial support for biochar production and ap7 plication. 

8 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

9 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

10 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2028.’’. 

Æ 


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