II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 732 

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 

MARCH 9, 2023 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. TESTER, Mr. THUNE, and Mr. BROWN) 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 2023’’. 


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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 sites or facilities described in subsection (c) 

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

11 soil health and soil management conditions, application 

12 methods, and climatic and agronomic regions— 

13 ‘‘(1) to assess the soil carbon sequestration po14 tential of various biochars and management systems 

15 integrating biochar use; 

16 ‘‘(2) to understand how to use biochar produc17 tively to contribute to climate mitigation, crop pro18 duction, resilience to extreme weather events, eco19 system and soil health, natural resource conserva20 tion, and farm profitability; and 

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

22 cost-effective, and practical information to farmers, 

23 ranchers, foresters, land reclamation managers, 

24 urban land managers, and other land and natural 

25 resource managers and businesses on sustainable 

26 biochar production and application. 


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1 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.— 

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

3 encompass— 

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

5 forestry, and other biochar uses; and 

6 ‘‘(B) a broad range of feedstocks, produc7 tion processes, and application treatments. 

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

9 the research network shall include— 

10 ‘‘(A) cross-site and mechanistic experi11 ments— 

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

13 gain a more complete understanding of the 

14 impact of various types of biochar in vary15 ing site conditions on soil properties, plant 

16 growth, greenhouse gas emissions, and car17 bon sequestration in different soils, cli18 mates, and other natural and agronomic 

19 conditions; 

20 ‘‘(ii) to provide mechanistic and 

21 technoeconomic insights on thermochemical 

22 conversion processes in biochar production 

23 and the coproduction of biochar and bio24 energy, including interactions of feedstock 

25 properties with reactor conditions and 


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1 processes on the relative proportions and 

2 properties of biochar, biofuels, and value3 added coproducts, as well as process effi4 ciency; 

5 ‘‘(iii) to generate data to develop, cali6 brate, and validate robust mechanistic 

7 models to predict the full life cycle of 

8 greenhouse gas, crop response, and related 

9 agronomic and environmental implications 

10 of particular applications of biochar; 

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

12 the design of new, more efficient biochar 

13 and bioenergy production reactors and bio14 refineries; and 

15 ‘‘(v) to generate data to develop, cali16 brate, and validate testing methodologies 

17 for biochar to identify potential contami18 nants or other factors that may cause un19 intended consequences; and 

20 ‘‘(B) site-specific farm and forestry sys21 tems assessments and pilot-scale biochar pro22 duction and application systems— 

23 ‘‘(i) to refine the most promising soil24 based uses, sources, and methods of proVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S732.IS S732

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1 ducing and applying biochar in particular 

2 regions— 

3 ‘‘(I) to enhance productivity; 

4 ‘‘(II) to increase profitability, 

5 scalability, and portability; 

6 ‘‘(III) to reduce greenhouse gas 

7 emissions; 

8 ‘‘(IV) to improve ecosystem and 

9 soil health; 

10 ‘‘(V) to strengthen resilience to 

11 extreme weather events; and 

12 ‘‘(VI) to explore soil, crop, cli13 mate, management, and biochar inter14 actions; 

15 ‘‘(ii) to develop new knowledge to sup16 port decisions on sustainable production 

17 and use of biochar; 

18 ‘‘(iii) to collect relevant data needed 

19 for full life cycle greenhouse gas and eco20 nomic analyses and complete those anal21 ysis; 

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

23 health, soil carbon sequestration, eco24 system health, water quality, greenhouse 


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1 gas, and economic outcomes for specific 

2 implementations of biochar technology; 

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

4 biomass feedstocks, support selection of 

5 sustainable biochar production methods, 

6 and address biochar production issues; and 

7 ‘‘(vi) to share research results to in8 form farmers, horticulturalists, ranchers, 

9 foresters, urban biochar users, extension 

10 agents and specialists, and technical assist11 ance providers on the most advantageous 

12 ways to use biochar to increase profit13 ability, raise productivity, lower costs, im14 prove soil and plant health, and enhance 

15 resilience to extreme weather events while 

16 contributing to carbon sequestration and 

17 greenhouse gas reductions. 

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

19 selected to conduct research as part of the research net20 work if the entity is— 

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

22 a State forestry experiment station; 

23 ‘‘(2) a research facility of the Agricultural Re24 search Service, the Forest Service, or any other 


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1 agency of the Department of Agriculture that the 

2 Secretary determines to be appropriate; or 

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

4 Energy, the Department of Commerce, or the De5 partment of the Interior. 

6 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION.— 

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

8 be administered by the Administrator of the Agricul9 tural Research Service, in partnership with— 

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

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

12 of Food and Agriculture; 

13 ‘‘(C) the Secretary of Energy; 

14 ‘‘(D) the Secretary of Commerce; 

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

16 ‘‘(F) such other agencies of the Depart17 ment of Agriculture as the Secretary determines 

18 to be appropriate. 

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

20 through the Chief of the Natural Resources Con21 servation Service— 

22 ‘‘(A) may develop or revise practice stand23 ards informed by the research conducted by the 

24 research network; and 


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

2 research network with— 

3 ‘‘(i) the development, expansion, and 

4 refinement of conservation practice stand5 ards for biochar production and use for 

6 soil and forest health, climate adaptation 

7 and mitigation, and other conservation 

8 purposes; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) improvements and expansion of 

10 conservation program technical and finan11 cial support for biochar production, appli12 cation, and integration into soil health 

13 management systems and other conserva14 tion approaches. 

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

16 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

17 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2028.’’. 

Æ 


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