Join us as we talk with Michael Lobato, Lobato Farms, and Holly Stanley, Mesa Conservation District on Colorado’s Western slope about their innovations with applying biochar in a no-till system.
Michael has worked to transform what was once part of a large sheep ranch into a thriving 5-acre farm. The 5 acres were split off from the sheep ranch with no infrastructure or irrigation and soil high in salts from manure.
“It was a lot of dirt and kochia…. but it looks much different today,” says Michael.
Michael started working with biochar after his father told him about a local group looking for a small plot to research biochar and compost. The trial was done at Lobato Farms, and Michael was struck with water capacity improvements. He then put it in his market garden and says, “it was night and day.”
Holly began working with Michael as an intern after learning about biochar from people interested in water conservation.
She says, “I was super excited and immediately inclined to be Michael’s assistant.” Now with the Mesa Conservation District she’s working with Michael on new ways to apply biochar.
The question before them was how to apply it in a native grass stand to make it more drought resilient. They tried one machine and have a patent on one that will work better for farmers.
Holly and Michael have learned a lot and seen great improvements in water usage, soil health, forage quality, and more, and are working hard to overcome technological challenges.
Holly and Michael would like to extend a special thank you to: Citizens for Clean Air, Colorado Ag Water Alliance, and the LOR Foundation for funding the trial. Also Professor Emeritus Gerald Nelson (University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne) and Dr. Perry Cabot (CSU Grand Valley Research Center) for providing their guidance and expertise.
____________
Thanks for listening to Fresh Growth! To learn more about Western SARE and sustainable agriculture, visit our website or find us:
Contact us at wsare@montana.edu
Join us as we talk with Michael Lobato, Lobato Farms, and Holly Stanley, Mesa Conservation District on Colorado’s Western slope about their innovations with applying biochar in a no-till system.
Michael has worked to transform what was once part of a large sheep ranch into a thriving 5-acre farm. The 5 acres were split off from the sheep ranch with no infrastructure or irrigation and soil high in salts from manure.
“It was a lot of dirt and kochia…. but it looks much different today,” says Michael.
Michael started working with biochar after his father told him about a local group looking for a small plot to research biochar and compost. The trial was done at Lobato Farms, and Michael was struck with water capacity improvements. He then put it in his market garden and says, “it was night and day.”
Holly began working with Michael as an intern after learning about biochar from people interested in water conservation.
She says, “I was super excited and immediately inclined to be Michael’s assistant.” Now with the Mesa Conservation District she’s working with Michael on new ways to apply biochar.
The question before them was how to apply it in a native grass stand to make it more drought resilient. They tried one machine and have a patent on one that will work better for farmers.
Holly and Michael have learned a lot and seen great improvements in water usage, soil health, forage quality, and more, and are working hard to overcome technological challenges.
Holly and Michael would like to extend a special thank you to: Citizens for Clean Air, Colorado Ag Water Alliance, and the LOR Foundation for funding the trial. Also Professor Emeritus Gerald Nelson (University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne) and Dr. Perry Cabot (CSU Grand Valley Research Center) for providing their guidance and expertise.
____________
Thanks for listening to Fresh Growth! To learn more about Western SARE and sustainable agriculture, visit our website or find us:
Contact us at wsare@montana.edu
Steve (00:05.19)
Today's guests are Michael Lobato of Lobato Farms in Fruta, Colorado, and Holly Stanley with the Mesa Conservation District. With Lobato Farms, Michael is working to clean up and restore five acres of farmland, transforming what was once part of a large sheep ranch into a thriving produce farm. He's also working with Holly to research biochar and new technologies. Michael and Holly, welcome and thanks for sitting down with us.
Holly Stanley (00:28.654)
Thank you for having us.
Michael Lobato (00:30.352)
Thank you.
Stacie Clary (00:33.421)
To start, Michael, would you please tell us about the location and the climate of your farm? And specifically, why did you take on this project of transforming the land?
Michael Lobato (00:45.008)
Um, the climate here in Florida is, uh, USDA zone six B, um, some of the areas around here nearby, like just a few miles away or seven a, so it's highly variable in this valley. Um, we're about 4 ,600 feet along the Colorado river. Um, I took on this project, um, because I can't sit still partly, but, um, I like to.
stay busy. But also, you know, with my background in the natural sciences and just appreciating natural resources, I just wanted to do a project like this and see what it took and what I could learn and all that. And so just more or less a personal challenge and also...
This was a way to acquire some farmland without having to buy some ready -made farmland. It's just too expensive. So that's why we had to put the sweat equity into it.
Steve (01:59.974)
Tell us what you're doing specifically. What was the land like and what's your background in the natural sciences and then what you're bringing to this and trying to accomplish. Just sort of describe that a little.
Michael Lobato (02:12.656)
Sure. So the land, it was a 30 acre sheep ranch. So this five acres was split off of it. And so there was no fencing, no irrigation infrastructure.
Michael Lobato (02:31.374)
nothing like that. So it was the land that I'm on was mostly the feedlot part. So it was high in salts from manures. It wasn't irrigated this part of the land. So it was really just dirt and a mono stand of kosha, which is of course an invasive weed. And that's virtually what I had to work with.
So it looks very much different today, but that's it.
Steve (03:08.646)
So what have you done to go from five acres of kosher to what you've got now?
Michael Lobato (03:15.088)
I started by...
Basically clearing the six to eight foot kosher stand. We burned as much as we could and then we basically started irrigating the land and we planted all Western native grasses. So mostly Western wheat, thick spiked wheat, and then some warm season species, Guyetta, Cytos grommas and things like that.
and they seem to be doing well now. It took quite a bit of, you know, reseeding and things like that, but they've taken a hold now and the soil quality is definitely improving. I don't have the weed pressure I did and of course I don't have the erosion now either.
Stacie Clary (04:15.149)
And then you started incorporating biochar. How did that get off the ground?
Michael Lobato (04:20.88)
The biochar was... I actually, even though I studied geology, I have never heard the term biochar. You know, we of course, dabbled a little bit with coal and things like that, carbon things. But biochar, we never studied. But it basically came about, my father was watching the news.
One night in this local group called Citizens for Clean Air Grand Junction, we're looking for little plots of land to do a study involving biochar and compost. And anyways, my father told me about that. And so I called that group up and said, you know, part of the reason why I bought this farm was to collaborate and learn and everything like that. And I said, you're more than welcome to do the trial. And so...
They did their trial, collected their data, and it was mostly good data. But what I was really struck by was how much water holding capacity improvement from just bare dry dirt in this hot desert climate drying out every day to now drying out every three, four, five days. And of course, part of that is
could be the compost or is the compost, but also a big component of that was the biochar. So that's what hooked me. And so I put it in my third acre market garden and it was night and day. I just did not have to water as much. And so that's why that started the whole thing. And that's my main focus with biochar. I know there's a lot of aspects to it, but...
The water holding capacity is really ours because of course we live out in the West and the drought of the Colorado River and stuff. So yeah, that's how that came about.
Steve (06:29.798)
So Holly, how did your agency get involved with Michael and what are you guys doing together?
Holly Stanley (06:35.598)
Sure, yeah, so I actually got involved in this project as a student at Colorado Mesa University. I took this on as an internship in my senior year. I worked for the Ruth Powell Hutchins Water Center at CMU at the time and had learned about biochar from other people who were interested in water and water conservation through that organization. And so,
When I saw the position available through Michael to do some biochar research, I was super excited and immediately implied to be his research assistant. And that whole experience has taken off. And once I graduated from CMU, I started the position at.
Mesa Conservation District, which Michael sits on the board with for them. So they are very much involved in supporting or we are very much involved in supporting the project as well.
Stacie Clary (07:49.133)
And what is the project? What is it that the two of you are working on and how has that led to looking at developing a new way to install Biochar?
Michael Lobato (08:03.312)
Um, so how the project itself, the research project came about was of course I had said I'd used the biochar in the third acre market garden and noticed those water holding capacity improvements. So I wanted to use biochar in the three acre native grass pasture to see if I could make an already drought resilient native grass stand.
even more drought resilient. And so then I thought, well, how do I, how am I going to put it on this field? I'm not going to broadcasting didn't seem like really worthwhile. Um, I just didn't see how that would show any benefit. And then, so the next option was tilling it in and I wasn't going to do that because I had just got done planting it. So I'm like, well, how do I,
Steve (08:57.862)
Mm -hmm.
Michael Lobato (09:00.112)
get this biochar in the soil. And so I just started thinking and I came up with the idea to use an aeration. Aeration and then the next question was how do I fill those holes? And so that's how the whole thing started. And then I searched the web for a machine that would do what I envisioned it to do.
And there was one machine that does, used in the golf industry on golf courses. They use it for sand on the putting greens. And so I applied for a few grants, hired Holly, and we went out and did this trial. And we're seeing some great results now.
Steve (09:50.616)
So this machine essentially injects the biochar into the pasture.
Michael Lobato (09:58.192)
You want to answer, Holly?
Holly Stanley (10:00.47)
So yeah, to some degree, yeah, this machine is again, it's specifically used for turf, for golf turf and on flat, even slopes and land. And so it wasn't necessarily the greatest tool to use to do in an agricultural field.
But with much effort, we got the job done. We were able to inject biochar into the soil without tilling it at a depth of about 68 inches. And so, yes and no, the machine does inject things, but...
not really useful for agricultural purposes or any kind of topography that isn't even. So yeah, yes and no is the answer there.
Steve (10:59.239)
Okay, okay.
Michael Lobato (10:59.408)
But yeah, we just had to try this concept and test it. And this was literally the only way we could was to.
Steve (11:07.686)
Uh -huh.
Michael Lobato (11:11.6)
have a golf course franchisee come out here and be willing to put in a 12 hour day and really get his machines dirty. We were worn out. All of that in the name of science.
Steve (11:18.95)
Uh -huh.
Steve (11:26.79)
When did you do this and what have you seen since?
Michael Lobato (11:31.952)
We installed the biochar May of last year. I believe it was like May 9th. So it's comprised of four strips. Each strip is a half acre. It's flood -furrow irrigated dryland grass hay. We weren't particularly testing it in hay per se, but we're just measuring.
wanted to measure the water holding capacity improvements. And it just happened to be a hay field. But so far what we've noticed, we have noticed about a 23 % increase in water holding capacity in those soils from 0 to 24 inches. So that profile was virtually modified in one day to now hold 23 % more water.
The other things we noticed were approximately... virtually both biochar strips showed higher protein and relative feed qualities in the hay versus the controls. And then Holly can go into depth about some of the spad.
and NDVI data as well.
Holly Stanley (13:02.67)
For sure. The main reason why beyond just like the no -telling aspect of injecting biochar as compared to some of the other known methods of implementing it is because there's some research out there that shows that getting that biochar at the root zone is actually the most optimal way of seeing those positive soil health and water conservation.
you know, results. And so that was another reason why we really thought that this was the best way to do that. After just a few months getting some of those, you know, soil moisture results and some soil microbiology results, as well as like testing the biomass of the forage, we saw that as far as the microbiology, there were...
more, you know, microbiology communities as far as fungi and bacteria in the strip that had 50 % less watering by frequency and was injected with the biochar. And that was compared to all the other strips, both being not injected with biochar and watered at 100%. We also saw that with the spad,
you know, results which show chlorophyll in the leaf of the plant, that there was more chlorophyll present in the strip that was watered less, at 50%, and injected with biochar. We also did a green seeker analysis, which will tell you, after converting that into an equation, what kind of fertilization regimen you would use or prescribe for that area. We saw more nitrogen.
also in that strip that was watered at 50 % and injected with biochar. So, which was kind of not the results of what I was expecting when first doing, starting the experiment. I thought for sure the strip that we watered at 100 % by frequency and injected with biochar would be the strip that would show the best results. Cause...
Holly Stanley (15:19.086)
you're watering it like you would any other agricultural field and you're also implementing it with Biochar, which you know all the research suggests this is a good thing to put into the soil. So I thought for sure that that would be the strip that did the best, but funny enough as it is, our results on every single thing that we tested showed that that wasn't the strip that did the best. The strip that you actually watered less...
at 50 % by frequency show the best results all the way around and in every aspect that we tested. So that leads me to believe that there may be the sweet spot with watering when you inject biochar. It almost forces your hand if you want to get the best results as far as forage and soil health and water conservation. Obviously you have to water less when you inject biochar into a system.
Steve (16:11.718)
Have you noticed that in your third acre garden plot that you are watering less and that you're seeing better results as a result of watering less?
Michael Lobato (16:25.152)
In the market garden it's only and it's This year would be its fourth year having any vegetables planted in it and each year it's really that plot has been a Trial and error with watering regimes. I've done sprinkler flood furrow and drip So it's hard to say if I've watered less and seen best better benefits in that plot, but I've definitely noticed
Um, it does not dry out near as fast as it did for sure. Um, like I said, a day versus now it can go four days without being dry. So. Yep.
Stacie Clary (17:08.203)
Nice.
Steve (17:10.662)
It sounds like there's an opportunity for a really good mechanical engineer to adapt that golf course machine for use in agricultural fields. Is that part of your background, Michael? Are you interested in learning that as well?
Michael Lobato (17:29.232)
Well, actually some of my background does include some time as a heavy equipment mechanic. So of course I love all types of machines. And so yeah, this project kind of just came together with my background of being an equipment tech and my love for natural resources and science and soil. So yeah, certainly.
We do have a patent pending on some new technology to replicate what we've done because the existing machine is strictly designed for golf courses. Although it completed our trial, I mean, it's just not viable to do this in any large acreage or an ag field. So yeah, we're taking what we've learned and...
Steve (18:14.278)
Mm -hmm.
Michael Lobato (18:28.88)
and designing something that we can scale and use for sure. Yeah.
Steve (18:32.708)
Nice, nice.
Stacie Clary (18:33.645)
Nice.
Stacie Clary (18:37.517)
For either Michael or Holly, are you seeing interest from other folks in your area about what you're doing and what you found out?
Michael Lobato (18:49.936)
Um, yeah, a lot of people are very interested in it. Um,
I think partly because it's so new and different that it's just interesting to them. And then part of the other reason is they're interested is we're just seeing such great results. So people are like, what is going on here? Like, is this for real? And we have this data. We have very.
little data to show that there's any negative benefit. So people are certainly interested, but they're also a little unsure because with Biochar, a lot of people just A, don't know about it, and B, how much do you use? How do you install it? And what crops? There's really no guide for Biochar.
you know, for different crops and different soils and climates. So there's a little bit of skepticism with it, which is fine and understandable, but we're just presenting our results in this field with our methods and we've seen great results. So yeah, people are certainly excited. And I think it gets a lot of people excited that, you know, not just...
the average farmer, but somebody, mechanical engineers that we're working with at Colorado Mesa University. It gets people excited just about technology in general, water conservation, and then it all ties back into agriculture, which I think there's a lot of opportunity to explore and invent and create right now. So.
Steve (20:49.732)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Michael Lobato (20:52.336)
Yeah, there is a lot of excitement for sure.
Steve (20:57.99)
It's a really good reminder because, you know, in this field, we always, in this arena, we hear about the problems in agriculture and the challenges and climate and water and everything. But it's a really good reminder that all those challenges are opportunities to innovate, to invent, to do things differently and do things better. And so thank you for that. Do you have any advice for other, you know,
Michael Lobato (21:17.584)
Mm -hmm.
Steve (21:28.326)
growers, anybody who wants to try something different on their farm. I mean, what would you recommend? Who would you recommend? I mean, the kind of connections that you would urge them to explore.
Michael Lobato (21:45.424)
Um, I would start with reaching out to their local NRCS office, USDA office, and local conservation districts to get started with some, you know, different new practices. You could maybe get some grants to help. So you don't have the burden of trying something drastically different and it doesn't work, but that's fine because you still learn something. But, um.
Steve (22:08.966)
Mm -hmm.
Michael Lobato (22:15.76)
Yeah, do you have anything Ollie?
Holly Stanley (22:18.382)
I would just say that reaching out to universities, we're very lucky with Colorado State University, the Western Research Center is in Fruta. There's also one in Orchard Mesa, which is just right around the way as well. And reaching out to local schools, CMU, the collaboration with the students there, the mechanical engineering students, it's just been eye -opening and we've learned so much.
about the process of implementation and you know and how that and how that could be worked out and so that was an amazing, it has been an amazing experience as well but I would just say never give up because for as many yeses as we've had, we've had you know five more no's and so just you know when you have an idea and you really believe in it and you know you...
Steve (23:08.454)
Mm -hmm.
Michael Lobato (23:10.222)
Thank you.
Holly Stanley (23:14.774)
you know, have, you know, research to back it up. Just keep, keep trudging forwards because, um, it could be, you know, an amazing innovation in agriculture. And that's definitely what we believe, um, what we're creating and, and with our, um, patent pending, um, innovation, we definitely believe that, that this could be some game changer for a lot of, uh, agricultural producers in drought, you know, air, you know, driven areas and are prone areas. I mean, um,
And so yeah, just don't give up.
Michael Lobato (23:47.504)
Yeah. Yeah. Hans Peter Schmidt of the Ithaca Institute in Switzerland. They research carbon strategies and technologies. And I first sent this concept to him because he's one of the ones that studied deposits of biochar near the root zone and how that's far more optimal than just killed in the soil.
Stacie Clary (23:47.629)
Good.
Michael Lobato (24:15.216)
And so his work showed that. And so when I sent this to him, he was like, yes, we've been waiting for somebody to figure this out. We've, we've got the data as well, but they just did it on little by hand, right? Installed it by hand how they needed to. And so, um, yeah, I mean, at first there was, when we said we were going to inject biochar with a golf course machine using, um,
Steve (24:31.526)
Right.
Michael Lobato (24:45.772)
Pistachio Shell Biochar to save water in western Colorado. People were like, this is crazy. Like what? A lot of people literally didn't really understand. And still, until we can show them or show them the trial plan, it's hard to really understand what we're doing. But once you read it or see.
our data, it makes sense, it makes perfect sense. It's really not crazy complicated, but our data and results are straightforward and we're pretty excited about them. Actually, just today, we got the spring soil samples back from the lab and they are showing, one of our hypothesis was that maybe biochar installed in this manner would,
Steve (25:15.332)
Mm -hmm.
Michael Lobato (25:44.228)
would somehow hold on to the nutrients and the next year you wouldn't need to apply as much fertilizer. And so I got those results back today and those are showing exactly what we hypothesized. The biochar strips are needing...
far far less Recommended amounts of fertilizer applied the non amended strips are needing tens of pounds per acre applied and so already You're already gaining back the The cost to implement this new way basically, so yeah, everything has been on point so far
Steve (26:27.302)
Yeah. Yeah.
Stacie Clary (26:29.037)
Yeah.
Michael Lobato (26:34.16)
Not to say, you know, with biochar a lot of different trials you get different results, but nobody has literally tested or studied it in this manner. So there may be, you know, maybe that's the golden ticket. Who knows? There's a lot of more research to be done, but with our study we're seeing awesome results.
Steve (26:49.476)
Mm -hmm.
Stacie Clary (27:06.093)
It all sounds great and...
Steve (27:06.96)
any timeframe for a prototype of the new injector.
Michael Lobato (27:16.336)
Hmm Man, I don't know. It's hard to put a time frame on that because there's a lot of work to do we're really just Doing our best to You know do our j -jobs and In addition to this trial so
Steve (27:24.614)
Yeah, yeah.
Michael Lobato (27:40.368)
Yeah, we're in the industry stages, but we're confident we will get something and keep working towards this solution, this potential solution. Yeah. Yeah.
Steve (27:42.918)
Okay, there you go. Let's just...
Steve (27:54.854)
Yeah, outstanding.
Stacie Clary (27:55.789)
I'll look forward to hearing that it's been approved, you're moving on and the new research you're doing and all that. I hope we stay in touch and you keep letting us know how it's going.
Michael Lobato (28:06.658)
Yeah.
Michael Lobato (28:12.474)
Absolutely, yeah.
Stacie Clary (28:15.957)
All right, well, thank you very much for your time and describing all your work. And I thought it was a really good point about building partnerships. It sounds like a lot of excitement in your community. So thank you.
Michael Lobato (28:27.312)
Yeah, thank you for having us and if you're ever in western Colorado, we can go show you the trial field.
Stacie Clary (28:34.605)
I'm actually really hoping to get out there pretty soon, so thank you. I would like to see it. Yeah. Okay. Alright, thanks.
Michael Lobato (28:39.056)
Awesome. Let us know.
Michael Lobato (28:44.432)
Alright, thank you Stacey. Thanks Stacey.