Response to commentary on ‘Current economic obstacles to biochar use in agriculture and climate change mitigation’

A recent commentary in Carbon Management by Fidel et al. (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17583004.2017.1306408) question the data selection and the analysis techniques used by Bach et al. (Carbon Management,https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2016.1213608) to assess two key aspects of biochar application in crop production, the effect on crop yield and the long-term carbon sequestration in soil. However, the arguments by Fidel et al. are not convincing. For farmer's decision whether biochar use in crop production might be economically profitable the low median values and large variability of results on yield effect in field trials form a sufficient base to abstain from biochar amendment to soil, therefore a detailed meta-analysis of data is not necessary. Future research may demonstrate under which conditions a pronounced positive and long-lasting effect of biochar application can be expected.