Late Powys farmer's biochar business expands as family continues carbon removal work

Biochar made from heated biomass is one of the more practical carbon removal options on the table, and a Powys family is building on that idea after the death of Mick Jones, the farmer and engineer behind Woodtek Engineering and Carbon Hill. His children are carrying on the work at Caebardd Farm near Guilsfield, where a small first plant called Betty grew into the C1000 and then into commercial biochar production systems sold in the UK and Sweden, with a Canadian installation planned later this year. The family plans to install a twin biochar production system at Caebardd as a working demonstration, and says the focus is on showing farmers what biochar actually does for soil, crops, and water retention. The UK government has listed biochar as a potential carbon removal technology, which puts this story at the intersection of farming practice and climate policy. For anyone tracking carbon markets, the detail worth watching is whether the family publishes soil and feedstock data as the demonstration scales.