Orana Farm Healthy Soils Project

Orana Farm Healthy Soils Project is a soil carbon sequestration project located at Rheola, approximately 50km northwest of Bendigo in Victoria. It was registered on 23 May 2018 and covers a project area of 3,501.66 hectares. The region's general land use consists of grazing and broadacre cropping, with this property actively transitioning from conventional to sustainable cropping and permanent planting. The local environment typically experiences moderate to low rainfall, and the regional soils often feature texture contrasts such as Sodosols, which can be sodic or acidic.

The project operates under the Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models (2021) methodology, having transitioned from the earlier 2018 measurement methodology via a variation in March 2022. This methodology involves estimating soil organic carbon sequestration by rigorously measuring and modeling carbon levels in agricultural systems over time. To earn carbon credits, proponents must implement new eligible management activities that build soil carbon and improve the land's resilience.

To increase soil carbon and improve soil health, this project involves several new agricultural activities. These include altering the stocking rate, duration, or intensity of grazing; converting from intensive tillage to reduced or no tillage practices; retaining crop stubble; applying synthetic or non-synthetic nutrients; and undertaking new irrigation. Furthermore, the project applies gypsum to remediate sodic or magnesic soils, and lime to remediate acid soils. Parts of the project's original area were removed through variations in March 2022 and March 2025.

Orana Farm is a cornerstone asset of the Tiverton Agriculture Impact Fund, which focuses on impact farming and the protection of natural capital. Interestingly, the farm is also home to the Orana Sanctuary, where a predator-proof fence was completed in collaboration with the conservation network Odonata to reintroduce threatened native species, such as the Eastern Bettong, back into the landscape. Additionally, the property participated in La Trobe University's Farm-scale Natural Capital Accounting Project from 2021 to 2023, standardising the measurement of environmental data, like soil microbial health and bird diversity, alongside farm financials.