Swartz Carbon Project 10

Swartz Carbon Project 10 is a soil carbon sequestration project located in the locality of Ridgelands, approximately 35 kilometers northwest of Rockhampton in Central Queensland. Registered in March 2022, the project covers roughly 259 hectares and is part of a larger aggregation known as the "Swartz Carbon Projects." This aggregation encompasses 11 individual project areas across the 4,000-hectare "Calliweera" property, which has been managed by the Warnock family for over five generations.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology, which credits increases in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) achieved through changes in land management. The primary activity driving sequestration on this site is a transition from set stocking to high-density rotational grazing. This approach involves higher cattle intensity for shorter durations, allowing pastures longer recovery periods to improve root mass and soil health. The project baseline and subsequent gains are determined using a hybrid of physical soil core sampling and advanced modelling.

Situated in the Fitzroy Basin, the region is characterized by a sub-tropical climate with summer-dominant rainfall averaging around 800mm annually. The local terrain typically features fertile cracking clay soils (Vertosols) and texture-contrast soils, which are highly responsive to grazing management changes. The Swartz aggregation is notable within the industry for its speed of issuance; projects in this group generated their first Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) within just two years of registration, a timeline significantly faster than the industry average.