Weelhamby Farm Soil Improvement Project

Weelhamby Farm Soil Improvement Project is a soil carbon project located roughly 25km north-east of Perenjori in the north-eastern Wheatbelt of Western Australia. It was registered in December 2021 and covers 5,258.24 ha.

Soil organic carbon projects involve changing agricultural management practices to increase the carbon stored in the soil. Standard requirements dictate that a rigorous baseline of soil carbon is established before implementing eligible new activities, which are then measured over time using physical sampling and models to calculate carbon accrual.

The Perenjori area is known for mixed farming operations, primarily intensive cereal cropping and livestock grazing. The region is considered a semi-arid, low-rainfall zone, typically receiving under 300mm of rain annually. Soils in this part of the WA Wheatbelt are generally red and sandy loams, yellow sandplains, and clay subsoils.

This project increases carbon in the soil by transitioning the land from intensive cereal cropping to rotational grazing, utilizing multi-species perennial pastures and strategic pasture cropping. Set up as a public demonstration farm, the project received early funding from the WA Government to show the viability of carbon farming in low-rainfall areas without locking up productive agricultural land. The farm also collaborates with Traditional Owners under the Transformative Aboriginal Agricultural Methods (TAAM) project, building 'leaky weirs' out of natural debris to slow water flow and reduce erosion. On August 6, 2025, a variation to the project area was processed, resulting in specific areas being removed from the listed footprint.