Ashley Carbon Project

Ashley Carbon Project is a soil organic carbon sequestration project located in the Temora Shire of the Riverina region, approximately 27km west of Temora in New South Wales. It was registered in September 2021 and covers an area of 202.33 hectares.

Soil organic carbon projects under the 2021 measurement and models determination involve implementing new or materially different agricultural management practices to increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. Standard requirements for this methodology involve establishing a baseline through rigorous soil sampling, carrying out eligible management activities, and performing ongoing measurement or modelling to estimate the carbon sequestered over the project's lifetime.

The Temora region is situated in the heart of southern New South Wales' grain-growing area. The surrounding land is predominantly used for mixed farming, featuring broad-acre cropping of wheat, canola, and barley, alongside sheep grazing for wool and fat lamb production. The area experiences a semi-arid to temperate climate with a reliable average annual rainfall of around 520mm to 580mm. The local soils are typically heavy, composed largely of acidic red duplex profiles, red-brown earths, and red chromosols.

This project aims to increase carbon in the soil by applying synthetic or non-synthetic nutrients to the land to address material soil deficiencies, converting from intensive tillage to reduced or no-tillage practices, and retaining stubble after crops are harvested. The project is managed by Agriprove Solutions Pty Ltd, one of Australia's prominent soil carbon project developers. In an interesting operational note, the project underwent a variation in July 2024, transitioning from the older 2018 measurement-only methodology to the updated 2021 measurement and models methodology, likely to optimize its approach to tracking soil carbon sequestration.