Don Anacleto and Kiln Improvements

Don Anacleto will be taking charge of biochar and compost operations. Anacleto has been part of the agriculture team for the last year and we're very excited to have him working on production and maintenence of biochar!

In December, biochar production was briefly stopped for the holidays and to do maintenance on the machine. Most importantly, the floor, which previously was cracked and holding a lot of water was replaced. The biomass carts have also been redesigned and some insulation has been replaced. Around the time that all repairs were finished in January, the power in Kosnipata went out for about 25 days. Last week, the power came back on and we're back in the business of making biochar daily!

The corn that was planted in November has grown quite tall. We are about a month and a half away from harvest and we’re excited to have our first round of data on growth and yield related to the treatments we applied to the soil. 

The plátano has also grown quickly since it’s planting in October. We’ve begun taking measurements on the crops with the help of students from the Instituto in Pilcopata. Measurements for plátano include height, stem circumference, and number of leaves. 

Pineapple is the slowest grower of the 3 crops that were planted. Pineapple measurements include plant height, number of leaves, and the length of the longest leaf. These measurement data for the various crops will provide some preliminary data to start analysis on the effectiveness of the treatments