At MASH Makes, biochar field trials are critical to understanding how biochar performs under real-world farming conditions. Those conducted during the 2025 monsoon reminded us of a stark reality: even the best-laid trials are vulnerable to climate volatility.

In the past, we've conducted 40+ successful field studies on the benefits of biochar. This season, however, was our most challenging. Across our multi-location trials in Maharashtra this season, erratic rainfall disrupted timelines, damaged crops, and exposed the potential and limitations of biochar in unpredictable environments. Despite this, there were still many lessons to be learned.

A monsoon that moved too fast, too hard

The Indian monsoon, which typically begins in early June, arrived seven days early this year —its fastest onset in 16 years. This caught farmers and researchers off guard, including at our sites where land preparation was incomplete. We lost key momentum in our no-tillage trials due to premature rains.

And the early onset didn’t mean a smooth season, either. After sowing, rainfall paused for weeks, triggering moisture stress during germination. This meant that we were forced to re-sow at several locations. Later, the rains returned with full force and stayed well into October, creating waterlogged fields that obstructed harvesting across our research and partner plots.

These abrupt shifts weren’t isolated incidents. As reported in an October article in The Conversation, this year’s monsoon was technically just 8% wetter than average. But that figure masks the real story. The unpredictability of this year’s season meant more extreme downpours, longer dry spells, and widespread damage.

Impact on crops

Here’s how the season affected specific crops in our trials:

• Chili: Persistent rainfall led to standing water, damaging root development and stunting growth.
• Green gram: Pods were soaked at harvest due to late-season rain, reducing post-harvest quality.
• Soybean: Prolonged rains caused pod splitting and waterlogging during harvest.
• Ginger: The crop struggled from delayed sprouting due to dry spells and later suffered poor growth from water stagnation.
• Sugarcane: Fields near rivers flooded during active growth, submerging plants for days.

According to that article in The Conversation, these impacts reflect a national trend: in Punjab, India’s "food bowl", flooding wiped out 1,200 square kilometres of fields, an area roughly the size of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Kolkata received 332 mm of rain in just a few hours (more than half of London’s annual rainfall!), paralysing the city during Durga Puja.

What this means for biochar and resilient agriculture

Climate change is making India’s monsoon not just wetter, but wilder. The number of extreme rainfall days has sharply increased across southern and western India since the 1950s. Regions now face both drought and flood risks in the same season, making consistent farming outcomes harder to achieve.

Biochar has a role to play here. When correctly applied, it improves soil moisture retention, nutrient efficiency, and helps crops withstand stress. In our trials, plots with properly timed biochar application fared better during the early dry period. But extreme rain later in the season offset some of those gains.

This highlights the need not just for biochar, but for adaptive, localised agronomy practices that can respond to changing climate patterns. It also means that field-based research like ours must continue to evolve to ensure biochar is deployed where and when it can have the greatest impact.