Phil is a regenerative agriculture consultant, carbon management analyst, and permaculture tutor, incorporating soil-building and carbon farming techniques on a one-hectare lifestyle block named Slow Farm.
Phil is also managing director of Coolstuff Community Ltd, a cooperative social enterprise combining distributed biochar production by affiliates with a regional retail supply network.
+64 21 784 718
Andrew Finlayson - Deputy Chair - Southland
Andrew is a Director at Southland Carbon and is focused on introducing Biochar to Southland and the agricultural community through the production of Premium Soil Amendment products.
Andrew is based in Southland with a broad business background and is now focussed on Carbon Capture Technology and raising the awareness of biochar in New Zealand.
Ben lives in Hawea Flat, Central Otago, on a 20 Hectare lifestyle block. He is involved in education around composting and growing food (Dr Compost), as well as mentoring and edible landscape design work, plus a bit of gardening writing.
My latest way to create better soil is by adding biochar, made in a bespoke kiln.
+64 21 078 6747
Trevor Richards - Secretary - Kuala Lumpur
Trevor has a Civil engineering background and has been based overseas since 1988. He connected with biomass energy since 1999 and has been blogging on biochar since 2009 via BIG-SEA.
Trevor helped establish ABE (www.soilcarbon.org.nz) in 2012. He is well connected with the international biochar community and interested in all aspects of biochar environmental and industry development in NZ.
+60 126 591 430
Simon Day - Waiuku
Simon is a farm owner of a 95 hectare property near Pukekohe, South Auckland. He provides dairy support grazing for neighbouring properties. The farm also supports beef and stands of mixed forestry. The farm includes 24 hectares of conserved native bush and wetland.
He is a longtime supporter, user and producer of biochar which is used as part of the farming operation and runoff inputs.
+64 21 155 2345
James McNally - Hawkes Bay
James is based in Napier and studied Chemistry and small business/project management. He operates a start-up called In Search Of Ltd which aims to develop local markets for Biochar and find those economic/environmental win-wins through application of Biochar whilst also returning carbon to the soil long-term (See my current developing setup in my photo.) He is keen to explore opportunities locally that include: horticulture, animal feeds, soaking-up river nitrates, and making Biochar blends such as char-cretes.
So get in touch if you're interested in collaborating, getting your woody waste pyrolysed, smashed, screened and composted with your green waste. Biochar bags or vermicompost-mix bags, demonstration-burns/presentations/workshops.
John is currently based in Hamilton and has an academic background in biology, chemistry, and material science. His doctoral research project involved developing structural models for char chemistry, researching techniques for the characterisation of biomass chars, and the creation of composite materials from carbonised herbaceous leaf fibres. This research also involved chemical analysis of other carbonaceous materials such as activated carbons, carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, carbon fibres and graphites. John has worked as a lecturer in material science at the University of Waikato and worked on projects involving biomass-based materials, polymers, and additive manufacturing.
Pranoy is highly experienced in the technicalities of best practices of kiwifruit production, both on-orchard and post-harvest alongside a sound knowledge of plant physiology, soil nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and management of insect-pests. Pranoy has over 12 years as a skilled project manager, and possesses disciplines in process improvisation, conducting and communicating research.
After finishing his Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science (in 2005), Pranoy gained a Master’s degree from India in Agricultural Chemistry (in 2007) that investigated pesticide residues in processed food commodities and its toxicology counterparts. Pranoy has a PhD in Soil Science systems (in 2012) from Lincoln University, New Zealand, that quantified ‘background’ greenhouse gas emissions of nitrogen and carbon from dairy pastures. He has also finished a Masters degree in Horticultural Science (in 2024) focused on the storage potential of new cultivars of blueberries in New Zealand.
Pranoy actively promotes the use of biochar in kiwifruit production systems as one of the principles of regenerative agriculture.
