Thorby Carbon Project

Thorby Carbon Project is a soil carbon sequestration project located approximately 25km northeast of Murray Bridge in South Australia. It was originally registered in August 2021 (with a later registration variation date of February 2023) and covers 367.60ha.

Soil carbon sequestration projects involve altering agricultural management practices to increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. Standard requirements under the 2018 methodology include undertaking rigorous baseline soil sampling before implementing new practices, followed by periodic re-sampling to measure the overall increase in soil organic carbon over a nominated permanence period.

The Murray Bridge region is known for mixed dryland farming, primarily broadacre cropping like wheat and barley, as well as sheep grazing. The area is considered a semi-arid, low rainfall environment, generally receiving around 300mm to 400mm annually. Soils in this region are generally sandy loams, often featuring underlying limestone and clay subsoils.

This project was set up to increase soil carbon within the agricultural system through three specific activities. These include applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilisers to address material soil deficiencies, converting from intensive tillage to reduced or no-tillage practices, and retaining stubble after a crop is harvested.

An interesting note is that this project is managed by AgriProve, Australia's leading soil carbon developer, which notably utilises AI-powered satellite data analytics to monitor and verify soil health. The Thorby Carbon Project is also grouped under a large aggregated Carbon Abatement Contract (CAC808228) with the Clean Energy Regulator, standing alongside more than two dozen other AgriProve soil carbon projects.