Prototyping Biochar & the Start Towards Regenerative Agriculture

December 16, 2024

This year, Burners Without Borders made a significant step toward realizing a dream we’ve held for years: creating sustainable, closed-loop systems that connect Black Rock City, Fly Ranch, and the larger Northern Nevada community. At the BWB Spring Summit, we took a major leap forward by incorporating biochar production into our event—laying the groundwork for regenerative agriculture practices.

At the BWB Spring Summit, held at Fly Ranch, artists Ray Cirino and Michael Whitman collaborated with us to build a biochar effigy using reclaimed materials. Unlike traditional burns, this effigy burn was designed to produce biochar—a valuable material for soil remediation, long-term carbon storage, and compost management.

The biochar was then mixed into compost brought from Black Rock City and applied to an experimental agriculture plot at Fly Ranch. (We also kept one 5 lb bucket of biochar which we brought back to playa and gifted to the teams running compost to be reintegrated into their systems, a symbol of our deeper commitment to creating closed loop systems. This food waste and biochar will return to Fly Ranch in Spring 2025.)

From this enriched soil, we planted onions and garlic, which were harvested later in the year and brought back to Black Rock City to be shared with the community. This small but powerful cycle demonstrates the potential of regenerative systems where waste from one part of the community becomes nourishment for another.

This effort represents the culmination of years of collaboration between Burners Without Borders, Fly Ranch, and the sustainability teams at Burning Man Project. It’s a tangible step toward a larger vision of sustainability, where the community stewards closed-loop systems that benefit both people and the environment. While this is just the beginning, it’s a promising prototype for a regenerative future.

This all dovetails nicely with our work this year in both: Supporting regional event producers in building their own sustainability plans, as well as the start of our conversations with ‘Burner Land Projects’ that both kickstarted this year. We want to be walking the walk, while we talk the talk alongside our global network.