Where Community is Made

In my part of the world (Minnesota, USA), this time of year is when I become significantly harder to reach because I’m outside in the garden every chance I get.

I grow a lot of heirloom vegetables and perennial flowers, and this season, for the first time, I added biochar into some of my beds to see the effects. After working with IBI for three years, I’m finally bringing the power of this stuff home and running my own very low-key trial of sorts. Every growing season feels like one giant experiment anyway, which is probably part of why I love it so much.

Another big reason I love getting out in the dirt is because it forces me to slow down.

Society — and especially our digital lives — are always moving fast, and with AI in the picture, that feels even more true as productivity and efficiency capacity continue to ramp up. Pair that with the growing momentum of biochar, and there’s an exciting feeling of urgency everywhere I look right now.

But at the end of the day, what makes this industry exciting to me is the people behind it, all across the world, making it happen. As I monitor IBI’s communications channels, I see stories and pictures across social media of producers figuring things out in real time; researchers sharing their papers; entrepreneurs giving webinars about their new start ups; farmers making biochar and applying it with success. 

It reminds me of something our cofounder, Johannes Lehmann, said while reflecting on IBI’s early days — “We needed a community to create a community…getting people to talk that would otherwise not get to talk. Getting people to collaborate and work together that maybe initially think they have nothing to talk about, but they discover they have a lot to talk about.” This is a community, y’all, and we have so much to learn from each other. 

While I’m slowing down in the garden a bit this summer, I’ll also be encouraging IBI members to slow down and connect with each other. I think community doesn’t happen through productivity and efficiency. It happens when we linger a little. When we have conversations without an agenda and make space to share ideas, ask questions, and get to know each other beyond just our work products. In a world that increasingly pushes speed, I think there’s something powerful about intentionally building spaces for belonging.

And I think a lot of people have found that in the biochar industry. IBI is proud to be one of those places where you can find your people.

Over the next month, we’re leaning into that sense of community a little bit and preparing a few new things. We’re launching the 2025 Global Biochar Market Report, starting new member welcome calls so you can meet each other and learn how to take advantage of being an IBI member, and more.

We want IBI membership to feel less like “another organization you joined” and more like being part of a network of people who are actively shaping where this industry goes next. (And also people who you could spend an afternoon with in your own garden.) 

I’ll close out with an important question — did you get your biochar swag yet? Because I may or may not be wearing mine constantly. 🙂

Warmly,

Lauren Boritzke Smith
Communications Lead