Most research on biochar has focused either on the mechanistic or the biophysical aspects, and there has been relatively little research into the social applicability and acceptance of biochar as a soil enhancer in agriculture. However, whether to adopt biochar in their practice is ultimately the farmers’ decision, and their willingness to do so is crucial. Here, we show the producer’s perspective on adopting biochar, using Polish farmers as a case study. Poland is an interesting case study because biochar has only recently attracted the attention of researchers, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders there. We performed standardized, semi-structured interviews with 161 Polish farmers to evaluate the socioeconomic potential of biochar application in practice. We found that 27% of the respondents claimed to be familiar with biochar. The respondents with a technical, non-agricultural level of education were most familiar with the term ‘biochar’ (36%), followed by the group of respondents with a higher-level agricultural education (31%). It was surprising that among the latter respondents, the majority (69%) did not know the term ‘biochar’, either in the context used for this study or in any other context. Twenty percent of the respondents expressed an interest in using biochar, while 43% were not willing to adopt it in their agricultural practice (37% ‘did not know yet’). If a farmer was familiar with the concept of sustainable agriculture, the probability of familiarity with biochar increased by 16% (p < 0.05). In addition, farmers interested in using biochar indicated that sustainable agriculture might improve the financial situation of their farms (52%). The perceived benefits of biochar that drive the willingness to adopt it included improved soil quality and increased income due to increased yields, while the constraints on its adoption were associated mainly with high costs. Our results also point to the necessity of information flow as well as engaging farmers in participatory research to adjust the research to their needs. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of transparency with the farmers and appropriate dissemination and presentation of both the positive and the negative aspects of biochar adoption. We urge those studying biochar to engage in more interdisciplinary research and to go beyond laboratory and field research. Many innovations, even those that work, will not be adopted if socioeconomic considerations are not incorporated into the research.

Adequate management of biomass residues generated by agricultural and food industry can reduce their negative impacts on the environment. The alternative use for agricultural waste is production of biogas. Biomass feedstock intended as a substrate for the agricultural biogas plants may include energy crops, bio-waste, products of animal and plant origin and organic residues from food production. This study reviews the potential of selected biomass residues from the agri-food industry in terms of use for agricultural biogas production in Poland. The most common agri-food residues used as substrates for biogas plants in Poland are maize silage, slurry, and distillery waste. It is important that the input for the agricultural biogas installations can be based on local wastes and co-products that require appropriate disposal or storage conditions and might be burdensome for the environment. The study also discusses several limitations that might have an unfavourable impact regarding biogas plants development in Poland. Given the estimated biomass potential, the assumptions defining the scope of use of agricultural biogas and the undeniable benefits provided by biogas production, agricultural biogas plants should be considered as a promising branch of sustainable electricity and thermal energy production in Poland, especially in rural areas.

Although increasing numbers of research papers regarding biochar are being published worldwide, in some countries growing interest in biochar has only recently been observed; this is true of Poland. We analysed information on biochar research in Poland alongside lessons learned elsewhere in order to identify the significant opportunities and risks associated with biochar use. This data fed into a GIS-based multicriteria analysis to identify areas where biochar application could deliver greatest benefit. We found that 21.8% of agricultural land in Poland has at least moderate indication for biochar use (soil organic matter below 2% and ph below 5.5), while 1.5% was categorized as a priority as it also exhibited contamination. Potential barriers identified included biomass availability and associated risks of indirect land-use change due to possible national and transnational biomass production displacement. Biochar use could have positive global consequences as a climate change mitigation strategy, particularly relevant in a country with limited alternatives. Scaling up a mitigation technology that is viable on account of its co-benefits might be cost-effective, which could, in turn, adjust national perspectives and stronger involvement in developing mitigation policies at the regional level. Biochar has much promise in temperate conditions and further research should therefore be assigned to explore biochar’s environmental and socio-economic impacts.

The analysis of statistical data showed that a large amount of plant waste is generated annually in oil and fat production plants, which must be processed and reused. The paper analyzes the problems of reusing sunflower oil production waste, which is characterized by a relatively high energy value: 1 ton of plant waste is equivalent to 0.625 tons of conventional fuel. According to the mathematical estimation, the actual total amount of impurities is 7.29%, in which major impurities constitute 25.7%. Studies have shown a high probability of oil – containing impurities – 37.25%. Therefore, it is recommended to process such impurities into fuel briquettes and technical oil to increase the profitability of sunflower oil production. For example, at the annual load of technological equipment of the Melitopol Oil Extraction Plant, in 250 days, at a daily processing capacity of 550 t˙day ^-1 , an annual profit of 560,000 EUR is obtainable from the sunflower grain impurities processed into fuel and technical oil.

Understanding perception about nature is paramount to understanding human behavior and decision making on the environment. We performed a survey-based study in Brazil and Poland to better understand the perception of land sparing for nature and the perceived value of nature. The countries were selected by intentional sampling and given their importance for local and global biodiversity conservation, and complex socio-ecological context of conservation versus agroforestry business. We performed an online questionnaire (N = 1030) in Brazil and face-to-face interviews in Poland (N = 322). We found that Brazilian respondents demonstrated more pro-environmental attitudes than Polish survey participants. Regarding the question: “How much nature that is left should be spared?”, nearly 51% of Brazilians answered “everything”, compared with 13% of Polish respondents. Just under half of the respondents from Poland (45.6%) indicated that half of the nature that is left should be spared. Brazilian respondents also perceived the intrinsic value of nature to a greater extent compared with Polish respondents; in total, 76% of Brazilians respondents entirely agreed that “Nature, its plants and animals have a value on their own, independent of their usefulness for us” versus 25% of Polish respondents. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the leverage points driving pro-environmental attitudes in both countries.

The objective of the paper was to analyse the expenditures of labour in production of three selected fruit types (apples, black currant and gooseberry) including, inter alia, in relation to the surface area of a plantation. The total inputs of labour were calculated with a division into manual and mechanized works. Moreover, a detailed structure of manual and mechanized works was presented. It was stated, inter alia, that labour consumption of apple production is approximately four times higher in comparison to black currant and gooseberry. No impact of the plantation size on the total work inputs on fruit production was reported.