Tom Buswell

Formerly of Caffe Centro and the Jam Factory. Now back on the farm.

[Jason Aramburu @jasonaramburu]

How efficient is biochar at locking away carbon? 🧵
Let’s unpack how much carbon it stores, how it stacks up to other biomass-based CDR methods—and why biochar may be the only one ready to scale to gigaton levels. 🌍🔥

[Tom Buswell @tombuswell80]

@aboutcircles https://t.co/YJvDOUi0LZ

[Tom Buswell @tombuswell80]

Just created my Circles profile! Looking to get trusted by someone who’s already in the network. @aboutcircles https://t.co/YJvDOUi0LZ

[James Rebanks @herdyshepherd1]

The latest goverment guff about farming is…

“The problem with farming is the lack of profitability”

This is a short thread on why this sensible-sounding focus should be treated with great suspicion…

A 🧵

[Wayne Yap @wayneyap]

One of the most sought-after exec coaches in the world:

Peter Diamandis

For over 40 years, he founded 25 million-dollar companies. I spent $25,000 and 1 year in his private mastermind.

Here are his 7 most powerful insights: 🧵

[John Kempf @Johnkempf]

Might be the wrong time of year to recommend reading material, but I keep getting asked the question about books I recommend, so here is the list I put together: https://t.co/vIL6QCTWs0

[Natural Resources Conservation Service @USDA_NRCS]

The Cover Crop Chart can help you decide what to grow based on your conditions, goals and needs. https://t.co/WM1H5mjFke #soilhealth

[ANNE LAMOTT @ANNELAMOTT]

This is the fifth session of the Bird by Bird Book club I did at https://t.co/vB3qm1gtlm It is free to all, and basically every single thing I know about writing. https://t.co/NNGiDcM431

[Megan @FavColour_Green]

Hedgelayers! Farmers!

Do you ever find yourself having to justify hedge rejuvenation to concerned members of the public?

You're not alone

ESSENTIAL laying & coppicing look dramatic - to the untrained eye, downright destructive. I've made a poster you can print/display to help

[Andrew McGuire @agronomistag]

Increasing soil organic matter is difficult. How difficult?
Here are the numbers:
To increase SOM 1%➡️1.1% (=11 tons in top 6"), with 1%/yr loss, requires ~6.7 tons/ac biomass = 223 corn or 239 bu/ac wheat crops.
See my calculations, do your own...https://t.co/L2NZzpIXg8

[Tom Diserens @tomdiserens]

The ecological impact of wolf reintroduction to Britain. A wolf ecologist’s view🧵.

Wolf reintroduction to Britain is again a hot topic in the media. So I want to share what we know about the wolf’s ecological impacts in a model European system, Białowieża Primeval Forest.

[Tom Buswell @tombuswell80]

@ineffable111 Yes please 🤚

[Mario Cortez @macortez619]

SoMa's Caffe Centro served the founders of Instagram and Twitter over its 30-year tenure ☕️
https://t.co/QajobVqErp

[MATT GRAY @matt_gray_]

5 crucial hires to grow your business (and make $10m/year).

The $10M Fantasy Team System:

[Rez (🌳,🌊,🎙️) @0xRez]

I've heard rumors of a agtech company making a trailer that creates+spreads biochar from the straw the combine harvester creates as a by-product. I've yet to verify how workable this approach is. Still, if the throughput can be achieved in line with straw output rates, it can significantly reduce the complexity of running on-field pyrolysis operations.

The only approach I've heard about is the @CharmIndustrial style of having a mobile field-side pyrolysis machine. This means you actually have to move the straw, while farmers with combine harvesters generally would prefer to chop it up and leave it on the field (if they don't have livestock).

There may be some major roadblocks to this being a climate solution. Based on a brief skim over the literature about pyrolysis, high-throughput pyrolysis (flash-pyrolysis) creates bio-oil more than it does biochar. The slower the pyrolysis, the more solids you get. I don't think you can leave bio-oil on the field as a soil amendment. This means it creates added logistics challenges if 50% of the input biomass is transformed into bio-oil.

Farmers, much like us, hate uncertainty and complexity. They have 1-year feedback cycles, so the amount of experimenting they are willing to do is constrained. Also, much like us - they love added income/benefits if it doesn't steal their time or mental capacity.

Curious if we will see pyrolysis-integrated combine harvesters any time soon. It can be a Tesla for Pyrolysis, though I don't know the engineering-side implications nor if this approach would actually be better for the soil.

Seems like potentially annoying soil health vs. climate intervention tradeoff. It could be an extra source of revenue, but it might be extractive regarding soil health. If the straw is taken off the field in the form of bio-oil, this is a potential net negative in terms of field-level input of organic matter. (Note: This can result in long-term leakage from reduced yields.) If you permanently remove the bio-oil @CharmIndustrial it could potentially be a climate net benefit still, but the tradeoff is complicated since you want to retain on-field organic matter for soil health. Less organic carbon in the soils means less water retention. Less water retention means worse food security, especially in the bigger picture of droughts becoming more frequent.

Just some stream of consciousness. I want to read any literature discussing pyrolysis from this perspective if anyone has suggestions. Academic literature focuses on this from an energy production perspective, which is a completely different trade-off space. I want to see a net increase in stable organic carbon on fields causing fewer net emissions from decomposition.

[Tom Buswell @tombuswell80]

@climaterobotics @0xRez @PeterOlivier How do we get to trial this!? I’ve been working on farmyard wheat straw pyrolysis; but in field 🤯

[Tom Buswell @tombuswell80]

@PhildeSemlyen I cannot wait to see this movie.

[Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan (Rajan) @mtrajan]

Naval for kids. 2 years ago my nephew and I had conversation on important ideas from @naval
Turned his ideas suitable for a 11 year old conversation. Back then he forbade me sharing the project on any social media. He changed his mind last week, sharing this now.

[Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday]

6/ Courage. Discipline. Justice. Wisdom.

If you ever find anything better in life than these four virtues, Marcus Aurelius said, it must be an extraordinary thing indeed.

As a parent, you must model these virtues and teach your kids—by example and instruction—how they can too.