Bionic's organic fertilizer and soil enhancer resembles Terra Preta

Many exciting things happened at the Bionic Group over the course of 2013, but one development is clearly standing out: the development of the Bionic Bio-Elite Carbon Plus production system. I have written here before about the Bio-Elite^TM organic fertilizer licensed by Bionic Lab in Germany. Now Bionic has made the already excellent product even greater by integrating the Bionic char product directly into the Bio-Elite production process.

The Bionic µsoil production process

The result is a soil improvement product of a fundamentally new quality. Not only an organic replacement for standard synthetic fertilizers, not only a supply for all required micro nutrients, but also a long term activator of healthy top soil development maintaining sufficient levels of carbon for a more natural plant growth. Thus, Bionic has created a contemporary descendant of the supposedly mysterious Terra Preta soil discovered by archaeologists in the Amazon region of Brazil.

While the bionicfuel process delivers a bio-char product with outstanding capabilities, this product is completely sterilized during production. Such a microwave sterilization effectively eliminates any danger of infecting one’s soil with pathogenic micro-organisms. However, it also takes time a lot of time afterwards for the bio-char to be settled again by healthy microbes. Bionic’s new process effectively accelerates such a natural soil fertilization by processing the char with the most effective micro organisms available. Subsequently the highly effective Bio-Elite organic fermentation process integrates the top soil forming char properties with the highly effective plant nutrition capabilities of an advanced organic fertilizer production systems.  The result is Bionic µsoil.

The fermentation process is almost complete

It takes just 50 days in one of the Bionic licensed fertilizer plants to process the final product beginning to end. A process that would take nature many years to complete unassisted.

Over the recent months Bionic has developed a business model for a franchise system concentrated on the production of its new fully organic soil enhancer. Franchise partners will typically operate their own plant and take care of the acquisition of the raw materials waste biomass and animal manure. Initial interest is specifically high from large commercial scale animal husbandry operations like poultry and pig farms.

All product not used internally in the franchise partner’s own farming operation will be marketed via a joint whole sale sale platform addressing garden centers, hardware stores and municipal gardening departments. An online platform will also be established as an additional sales channel for direct orders by individual commercial and private customers.

In December 2013 a German State Government has taken a preliminary decision to substantially support Bionic’s initial reference plant under an economic development program. Constructed during 2014 in collaboration with Bionic’s prime manufacturer SMERAL as from Brno in the Czech Republic, the plant will later serve for R&D, training and demonstrations within the franchise system.

The advantages of the Bionic µsoil system are many. It is not only a new organic fertilizer of outstanding quality which is completely carbon neutral. It is also a solution to the serious manure problems of animal mass husbandry, the long underestimated health hazards of common biogas plants deriving from dangerously infested residues and the proper disposal of food waste. All these categories of waste become constantly more and more regulated which has heavily increased cost for the affected businesses. Bionic is now effectively offering a way to reverse this development by eliminating the high cost by converting the issue into a profitable business option for new SME businesses.


Innovative organic fertilizer and soil conditioner

Jatropha for Dummies - Part 3 - The Farming

We have seen in the last segment of this series: Jatropha has a future which will be non-toxic. I pointed out that high yielding planting material will become available rather sooner than later to make JcL ready for commercial success as a feedstock for high revenue energy products and animal feed. But with the right planting material available, what will the ideal farm look like when we get there?

Looking for the proper farming concepts we should first understand that JcL is a tree crop (or rather a bush or shrub). Traditionally it was planted in hedges which primarily had a living fence function to separate cattle from farmed fields. Obviously Jatropha was doing well in such a planting pattern where mono cropping is not an issue which in JcL brings along problems like heavy pest attacks and scarcity of water and nutrients. Therefore the good old hedges planted alongside roads and fields with superior modern planting material can become a great way for the traditional small African farmer to make himself some extra income while fully sticking to his original farming practices.

Freshly pruned JcL double alleys

But, as a completely different playing field we also have to look deeper into large scale commercial farming. At Bionic Palm we have run an extensive Jatropha test farming project on more than 100 ha for many years to study the best agronomic methods. Very early we understood that true sustainability can never be accomplished with a mono cropping system. Thus, over a series of intermediary steps, we arrived at our optimal solution: double alleys with a minimum of 10 m in between for permanent intercropping with the most convenient annual crops.

The double alley approach has numerous advantages especially in semi arid climates. The hedges offer protection from soil erosion through wind and rain. They can also improve soil quality in many ways operating as a nutrient pump from deeper levels, adding carbon to the soil by shedding their leaves and by supporting and maintaining microorganisms added to the soil like mycorrhiza.

If irrigation is part of the farming strategy permanent piping can be installed in between the double hedges giving them good protection.

While many annual crops (maize, soy, beans, ground nut just to name a few) can be planted together with JcL hedges we actually prefer high value vegetable crops in combination with a no-till system, be it glyphosate (round-up) or cover crop based. Only these crops really bring the enormous profitability potential of an agroforestry concept built on non-toxic JcL backbones into reality.

Adding a comprehensive soil development and management concept utilizing biochar and organic fertilizer can help turning very difficult environmental conditions like in former mining areas around.  

Jatropha for Dummies - Part 2 - The plant's future is non-toxic

Fruit cluster on a non-toxic breeding plant (Bionic orchard, Ghana)

After lots of painful experience during the first generation of commercial Jatropha projects - attempting to exploit the toxic plants potential for biodiesel - many are skeptical regarding a possible success for this cop. Still, groups of professional plant developers have formed worldwide working to convert the wild species Jatropha curcas into a viable commercial energy crop. Combined with an ever increasing flow of scientific reports exploring all aspects of this promising species it can be seen by now: success will only be a matter of time.

While contemporary reports on Jatropha development usually keep staring at incumbent  farming projects which are still struggling with all the typical generation 1 problems, be it planting material or agronomic practices, Jatropha has long shown its enormous potential in all aspects of planting material improvement. The results are clearly visible in the breeding orchards around the world and in many insider reports.

The future of Jatropha is non-toxic, which will make it one of the most profitable crops for farmers ever planted. After pressing the oil from the seeds the remaining seed cake will be a highly valuable raw material for animal feed mixes exceeding even the protein content of soy meal. Jatropha seed meal was falsely considered inevitably toxic and difficult to detoxify. The solution to the problem is the creating of non-toxic cultivars based on wild accessions from the center of origin as parental material. Here at Bionic Palm we are among the world leaders in this sector of plant development...

Protein rich feed materials are in high demand around the world and increasingly expensive. Therefore non-toxic Jatropha is not only breaking the profitability barrier for Jatropha farming projects but also reversing the feed price squeeze in many tropical regions thus allowing poultry rearing and aquaculture to become good SME businesses ounce again.

There is a wide genetic diversity in Jatropha germplasm formerly unexploited which can be found at the center of origin. This allows successful breeding for improved planting material including the introduction of the non-toxic trait. Interspecific hybridization offers a second route to an increased genetic spread for selection of superior traits. Bionic Palm has been using both aspects systematically from the very beginning of the Jatropha Breeder 3.0 program.

Jatropha is ideal in support of advanced agroforestry concepts helping to reclaim depleted soil formerly used for mining and unsustainable farming. With a growing environmental awareness in developing countries requirements are increasing for mining operations to reduce their environmental impact including carbon emissions. Non-toxic Jatropha offers enormous possibilities to convert growing sustainability budgets from simple cost items into effective investments as mining operations are usually also large energy consumers.

Alleys of pruned Jatropha prepared for vegetable planting (Bionic test farm, Ghana)

Jatropha can play a major role in adaptation to the effects of climate change in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Advanced Jatropha cultivars will exhibit an increased drought tolerance and offer capabilities to withstand the expected climatic changes in the tropics. Jatropha hedges planted in combination with food crops under irrigation will help protect the latter from the increasingly harsh environmental situation.

See also:
Jatropha for Dummies - Part 1 - The problem
Jatropha for Dummies - Part 3 - The Farming