Bonnie Doone Soil Carbon Project

The Bonnie Doone Soil Carbon Project is a significant agricultural land management project located near Monto in the North Burnett region of Queensland. Registered in January 2017, the project covers approximately 5,275 hectares of the "Bonnie Doone" property, situated west of the Coominglah Range. The area is defined by a diverse landscape used primarily for organic beef cattle grazing.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models). This method requires landholders to implement new management activities to increase Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) levels compared to a historic baseline, verified through rigorous soil core sampling and modelling. The project proponents, Grant and Carly Burnham, transitioned from traditional set-stocking to time-controlled rotational grazing. Key infrastructure changes included subdividing 30 existing paddocks into 60 to increase rest periods for pastures and installing 40 new water points to reduce the distance cattle travel to water from 2km to 500m.

Environmentally, the region experiences a sub-tropical climate with rainfall that can be variable; the project successfully sequestered carbon despite enduring several dry years early in its crediting period. The soil composition at Bonnie Doone is notably diverse, featuring decomposed granite, alluvial black cracking clays, red volcanic soil, and humus-rich black basalt scrub soils.

A major milestone for the Australian carbon market, the Bonnie Doone project was issued 94,666 Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) in late 2023, which was reported as the largest issuance for an individual soil carbon project at the time. The proponents claim these improvements have made their beef operation "carbon negative," sequestering an estimated 6.6 tonnes of carbon for every tonne of livestock produced.