The big potential for biochar is soil improvement for subsistence farmers, using surplus biomass in situ. So decentralized and highly local.

But initial effort is very significant.

exactly!

This needs nonprofits delivering pyrolysis retorts to rural communities in large numbers and also providing training…

i am so far away from any decision making position of this nature, but this is what i’ve been thinking we collectively need to restore soil and local sustainability

where i live, there is a huge and growing wildfire risk and so public policy is to “erase” undergrowth from the landscape by tilling/buldozzing and burning it. in the quest to retain some of that massive vanishing organic matter, some have been advocating public policy such as what you described but with shredders instead of biochar retorts, since the composting way of feeding soil is much more widespread in the thoughts of the ecologically-minded

although a great tactic in the arsenal, and a huge step forward compared to the present, i fear that simply throwing shredded wood and sticks into the ground, as has been done in some industrial agriculture efforts to reduce ecological damage, will still waste huge amounts of carbon to oxidation given the conditions where such decomposition will happen. has this crossed your mind? if so, i’d like to read your opinion on it

thanks for your reply, i’ve saved the comment for posterity since you so well articulated and summarized things that have been bothering me