Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei (1564 – 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer who developed the Scientific Method. Galileo established seven stages of the scientific method for objectively establishing facts through testing and experimentation.

The basic process involves seeing, forming a hypothesis, making a prediction, conducting an experiment and analyzing the results.

Relationship of Agriculture to Climate Change

The agriculture sector is one of the largest producers of CO2, the greenhouse gas (GHG) most responsible for the changes we are seeing in our climate today.

Together with forestry and other land uses, agriculture is responsible for around 25%of all emissions.

The cause of the omissions that release CO2, nitrous oxide (N₂O) and nitric oxide (NO) is the decomposition of biomass by microorganisms in the soil. ECOAID Scientists continue to advance regenerative products that not only restore the soil to its previous condition but to improve the soil to increase the yield and quality of the crops

Developing Country Farmers Need to Adopt Scientific Approach

ECOAID Agricultural science will help farmers of all sizes adjust to healthier food production methods. ECOAID and its business partners are working to develop new high-yield varieties of crops that require fewer fertilizers or pesticides. Such crops reduce the need for using costly chemicals.

Caribbean farmers must deal with various problems, including climate change, soil erosion, and biodiversity loss.

They also need to satisfy consumers’ changing tastes and expectations while meeting the rising demand for more food of higher quality.

ECOAID BIOTECH Laboratory Research and Product Development are integral to advancing regenerative and holistic products to improve our lives. ECOAID will have a Research Lab in Kingston and a product testing and support laboratory in Hanover, Jamaica.

The Product Development laboratory is responsible for developing and testing the products to be marketed by ECOAID and its business partners.

Activated Carbon can be made from any biomass material, including agricultural waste, wood, bamboo, and coconuts. Activated Carbon is used in over 55 industry applications.

Different materials in an oxygen-free kiln their carbonization process at different temperatures and durations depending on the material and end product made.

 There are three stages of carbonization:

1) “Char or Charcoal”,

2) Biochar, and

3( Activated Charcoal.

The difference between the three is the surface area and that each is used for different applications.  Depending on the material, pyrolysis starts at different temperatures.

Pyrolysis is the process of heating organic material at high temperatures without oxygen. Since no oxygen is present, the organic material does not combust.

Instead, the chemical compounds (i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) that make up the material decompose into combustible gases called (syngas) with charcoal remain.

Regenerative means can or tending to regenerate—to regrow or be renewed or restored, especially after being damaged or lost.

As the impact of Climate change, soil fertility decreases from heat, impact to soil microorganisms, and excessive stress on plant-all affecting yield and quality of the product.

Regenerative organic fertilizer is a holistic practice that improves soil health using biochar, dormant microbes, and specialized plant and fertilizer pellets.

The formula helps hold moisture in the soil, retain CO2 and increase biomass for conversion by microbes into plant nutrients.

Unlike synthetic fertilizers that are short-lived in the soil and depleted through leaching and rain runoff, ECOAIDS organic regenerative fertilizers and soil enhancement are slow-release and are part.

The ECOAID soil restoration program looks to improve the soil year after year.

Pyrolysis is the complex process of a biochemical and biothermal process.

As this material is converted to syngas, the charcoal surface area increases the material’s porosity.

As the temperature increases and the conversion of the lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose continues, the surface area within the biomass increases.

he surface area of bamboo, hardwood and coconut husk can range from 48,000 square meters per gram to over 250,000 square meters per gram.

ECOAID Biotechnology and its joint venture partners are working with the Department of Agriculture Research and Development Department on a significant four Part Regenerative Organic fertilizer study.

Using the Agriculture Block Research Design, the four-part study tests the combination of Ecoaid fertilizers compared to organic compost and synthetic fertilizer.

The first part of the study is measuring 10 of the nutrients in the soil, microbe population, yields, and moisture retention in the soil using Callaloo, Carrots, and Cabbage.

Part 1 is a pot study with 260 plants.

Part 2 is a study duplicating the research under field conditions.

Part 3 is a dual study, part A uses Beans, Tomatoes, and Ginger and Part B uses hot peppers and spices traditionally imported into Jamaica.

The final field study will be performed in Hanover on multiple hectares.

This is a three-year long-term multiple-crop study to measure the regenerative soil results and the cumulative impact on crop yield.

This long-term research will include young farms from the KCDI agriculture program and an internship from the local agriculture colleges using the ECOAID Regenerative Support Program supported by ECOAID’s artificial intelligence software from IBM.

Dr Sylvia Mitchell is a Member of ECOAID’s Board and President of our Joint Venture Company, Neontech Ltd., a specialist in plant propagation and Biochar. 

Plant propagation is selecting and duplicating the healthiest plant and using its tissue to grow replicas of itself in a medium culture dish.

This natural selection process does not alter the genetic structure of the plant and can be duplicated as often as required without degradation of the genetic DNA or RNA strands. 

Plant cutting, also known as striking or cloning, is a technique for vegetatively (asexually) propagating plants in which a piece of the stem or root of the source plant is placed in a suitable medium, such as peat, coco coir, perlite, and compost with fine granules of biochar. All these media are made of natural ingredients.

Cloning allows farmers to accelerate the reproduction of their most productive crops to better produce safe and healthy food. Cloning reproduces the healthiest plants, thus minimizing the need for non-organic fertilizers and pesticides.

The plant can start in reusable culture dishes and be grown in greenhouses during the off-season and planted in the field, giving the crop of healthy created plants a head-start to the season. This shortens the growth cycle and provides for the field reuse for another profitable crop.

Microorganisms play a critical role with their proximity to the rhizosphere where the plant roots reside, and soil microbes affect soil and crop health.

Some activities include nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization, suppression of pests and pathogens, improvement of plant stress, and decomposition that leads to soil aggregation.

ECOAID has made four significant changes to the regenerative formula for our agriculture and home gardens formula.

1) Agriculture regenerative fertilizers are 100% organic and use a holistic approach to product development.

2) A mixture of different size Biochar granular and surface areas to take advantage of moisture, oxygen retention, and soil pH balance.

3) Culture of dormant microbes to increase nutrient availability for stronger and healthier plant.

4) A customized blend of bio plant and animal manure pellets to increase nutrients for the plants.

Within the Rhizosphere are billions of microorganisms consisting of archaea, bacteria, fungi and protozoa varieties.  Soil microbes play a vital role in the sustained growth of plants. They decompose and recycle nutrients bound in organic materials. They help access minerals in rocks large and small.

Beneficial microbes improve plant growth by enhancing the availability of nutrients, regulating phytohormones, and increasing plant tolerance against stresses.

PGPM act as a biofertilizer, increasing macro and micronutrient availability. Every region of the globe has different types and quantities of microorganisms. ECOAID is developing a culturing process to clone microbes for local agriculture.

All plants are made from the nutrient they consume. Some plants consume more nutrients of one kind than another. Not all plants can access the key nutrients in the soil or the air. All agriculture, whether the farm or gardening is organic, mixed or synthetic fertilizer based, needs biomass material in the soil.  

Each soil type has its mix of nutritional ingredients, so before considering what fertilizers a plant may require, we need to consider the soil a plant is growing.

ECOAID examines the soil and uses a custom mix of plant and manure pellets blended with biochar and local or regional dormant microbes to regenerate the soil for the plant to be healthy and resist insects and fungi.