Yaloak Estate Soil Carbon Project (Revoked)

Yaloak Estate Soil Carbon Project (Revoked) is a soil carbon project located at Yaloak Estate near Ballan, approximately 60km northwest of Melbourne in Victoria. It was registered in April 2015 and covers an area of 5,741.66 hectares.

The Sequestering Carbon in Soils in Grazing Systems methodology involves increasing the amount of carbon stored in agricultural soils by adopting new eligible management practices. In this project, the primary activities involved converting the land from continuous cropping to permanent pasture and applying deep subsoil manuring to improve soil carbon sequestration.

The region around Ballan, Fiskville, and Bacchus Marsh is widely used for broadacre livestock grazing and cropping. The area falls within the high rainfall zone of Victoria, receiving over 500mm annually. Soils in the region, particularly at Yaloak Estate, are typically duplex sodosols featuring a basalt clay-loam topsoil over a heavy sodic clay subsoil, which can be prone to waterlogging and compaction.

The project site, Yaloak Estate, is a notable large-scale property historically famous for hosting the Yaloak Polo Club, established by former owner and polo benefactor Peter Yunghanns. In 2020, the expansive estate was sold to a China-backed agricultural investment firm for a speculated $60 million. The carbon project itself was ultimately revoked on November 3, 2022, under section 30 of the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) Rule.