Loopleaf Press

Biochar Farm Trial & ROI Toolkit

The spreadsheet version, for readers of the printed workbook

In the book, the worksheets on pages 13 to 15 take you through the arithmetic with a pen. This spreadsheet does the same arithmetic for you, keeps the season’s logs in one file and checks your actual costs against the plan.

No sign-in, no email, nothing to fill in. The file is yours to keep.

Before you start

1. Open Start Here. Set your currency and choose Metric (hectares and tonnes) or Imperial (acres and short tons). Every label in the workbook follows that choice.
2. On Farm Inputs, replace the shaded example values with your own. The example is the one printed in the book, so you can check the sheet against page 13 before you rely on it.
3. Read the result on Dashboard, then keep the logs as the season runs.

What is inside

• Start Herecurrency, units and the order to work in
• Dashboardthe results and eight readiness checks; nothing is typed here
• Farm Inputsthe cost, benefit and payback worksheetspages 13–14
• ROI Scenariosthe ten-year discounted scenariopage 15
• Trial Plannerplots, control and treatmentpages 11–12
• Application Logwhat was applied, where and whenpages 18–19
• Soil & Yield Logobservations, measurements and yieldspages 21–23
• Harvest Comparisoncontrol against treatmentpage 24
• Actual Coststhe plan reconciled with real invoicespage 25
• Decision Recordthe decision and the evidence behind itpage 29
• Quick Guidethe method and the model notes
• References & Disclaimersources and limitspage 30

Opening and printing

Excel opens it directly, on Windows, Mac, the web or a phone. In Google Sheets, choose File → Import → Upload, or open it from Google Drive. LibreOffice Calc opens it as it is.

Every sheet has its print area set, and the three log sheets repeat their column headings on each printed page. Google Sheets ignores print areas, so choose the range when you print from there.

Every figure the spreadsheet produces is a scenario built from the values you enter. It is not a prediction, a recommendation or a guarantee of yield, savings, payback or profit.