Ag-tech startup Qualterra is doubling down on biochar — a carbon-rich soil booster — as it scales up operations in Eastern Washington.
The company has developed a cutting-edge process and technology to help farmers enhance crop yields while transforming common organic waste into useful material. As reported by GeekWire, Qualterra is significantly expanding after recently raising $4.5 million in new investments.
"We're going through an exciting transformation as an organization right now," said Qualterra CEO Mike Werner, explaining that biochar is "improving the efficiency and the effectiveness of soils, and doing it in a way that's economically viable for our farmers and growers."
Biochar is a charcoal-like material made by heating common organic waste such as wheat straw, timber scraps, and nutshells at high temperatures in a low-oxygen environment. This process is known as pyrolysis, and its finished product can enhance crop yields by improving soil structure and reducing water needs while trapping carbon that would otherwise return to the atmosphere. It's an ancient concept that's gaining modern traction as a circular economy technique and a tool for sustainable agriculture and carbon removal.
Qualterra began in 2021 when NuPhY, a crop diagnostics and plant production company, acquired Ag Energy Solutions, a biochar and renewable energy business. Today, the startup also provides rapid molecular testing for plant diseases, including the increasingly problematic little cherry virus, and grows guaranteed-healthy apple, grape, cherry, and hops plants for nurseries and farmers.
As part of Qualterra's current expansion, the company is growing into seven acres of cutting-edge greenhouse space, which it says should multiply its plant production capacity tenfold. These genetically clean plants are offered in biochar-enriched soil, further boosting their odds of productivity.
On the biochar side of the business, Qualterra's tech can convert more than 20 types of feedstock refuse. The company is testing its effectiveness across 13 crop types in three states and offers not just the biochar itself but also modular production units. These are housed in shipping containers and use automated systems to steadily convert waste on their own. Qualterra is also working to launch a carbon credit program that would offer farmers another source of revenue just for making biochar.
"Making sure that the technologies align with the values and the needs for the farmers is critical. So when you think about the technologies that we're trying to deliver — whether it's plants or molecular diagnostics or biochar biomass processing — that's why we're spending time with farmers," Werner said.
The proliferation of all kinds of waste can present big challenges, but innovative firms such as Qualterra are finding ways to turn refuse into a valuable resource. Last year, a team at Washington State University managed to convert agricultural trimmings into a fuel that could one day be used to power jets and other heavy machinery.
As entrepreneurs continue to find circular solutions for all kinds of cast-offs, humanity may someday look back in wonder as to how we ever let garbage go to waste.
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