NORCROSS, Ga., March 08, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vega Biofuels, Inc. (OTCPink:VGPR) announced today that it has received the first Purchase Order from the Five Year Agreement previously announced to provide the Company’s Biochar product to legal cannabis growers in Alaska. The state of Alaska is the most recent state to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis use.
Vega Biofuels recently announced that it had signed a Five Year Agreement to provide the Company’s Biochar to AK Provisions, Inc., located in Anchorage. Biochar is a highly absorbent specially designed charcoal-type product primarily used as a soil enhancement for the agricultural industry to significantly increase crop yields. Biochar offers a powerfully simple solution to some of today’s most urgent environmental concerns. The production of Biochar for carbon sequestration in the soil is a carbon-negative process. Biochar is made from timber waste using torrefaction technology and the Company’s patent pending manufacturing machine. When put back into the soil, Biochar can stabilize the carbon in the soil for hundreds of years. The introduction of Biochar into soil is not like applying fertilizer; it is the beginning of a process. Most of the benefit is achieved through microbes and fungi. They colonize its massive surface area and integrate into the char and the surrounding soil, dramatically increasing the soil’s ability to nurture plant growth and provide increased crop yield.
This first order will be used by AK Provisions, Inc. at its own facility currently under construction in Anchorage. AK Provisions plans to use Vega’s Biochar in its own grow facilities, as well as market the product to other growers throughout the state of Alaska through a reseller agreement with Vega Biofuels.
“We are happy to provide our product to the booming cannabis business in Alaska,” stated Michael K. Molen, Chairman/CEO of Vega Biofuels, Inc. “When mixed with normal soil, our Biochar product provides the perfect environment for any agricultural crop, not just cannabis. We plan to expand the reseller model to other states where we’ve had interest from growers. You can’t argue with the results. Biochar holds valuable nutrients in the soil instead of washing them away when watering, and then releases the nutrients as the plant grows, thus increasing the plant’s yield. We have side-by-side test pictures that we’ve taken of various crops grown with Biochar and will post these on our website in the next few days.”
Biochar can improve water quality, reduce soil emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce nutrient leaching, reduce soil acidity, and reduce irrigation and fertilizer requirements. Biochar was also found under certain circumstances to induce plant systemic responses to foliar fungal diseases and to improve plant responses to diseases caused by soil-borne pathogens. The various impacts of Biochar can be dependent on the properties of the Biochar, as well as the amount applied. Biochar impact may depend on regional conditions including soil type, soil condition (depleted or healthy), temperature, and humidity. Modest additions of Biochar to soil reduces nitrous oxide N2O emissions by up to 80% and eliminates methane emissions, which are both more potent greenhouse gases than CO2.
About Vega Biofuels, Inc. (OTCPink:VGPR):
Vega Biofuels, Inc. is a cutting-edge energy company that manufactures and markets a renewable energy product called Bio-Coal and a soil enhancement called Biochar, both made from timber waste using unique technology called torrefaction. Torrefaction is the treatment of biomass at high temperatures under low oxygen conditions. For more information, please visit our website at vegabiofuels.com.
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