McKellar Carbon Project 2

McKellar Carbon Project 2 is a soil carbon project located approximately 5km northeast of Penola in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, and roughly 50km north of the major regional city of Mount Gambier. It was registered in June 2022 and covers an area of 221.21 hectares.

Soil carbon projects operating under the Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models methodology involve changing agricultural land management practices to increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. To generate carbon credits, proponents must conduct rigorous baseline soil testing and subsequent measurements to physically prove an increase in soil organic carbon over time, ensuring the activities are new and additional to historical farming practices.

The Penola and greater Limestone Coast area is a highly productive agricultural region known for sheep and cattle grazing, commercial forestry (pine and blue gum plantations), and the world-renowned Coonawarra viticulture industry. The region experiences a temperate climate with reliable, moderate-to-high rainfall. The local soils are diverse, prominently featuring limestone-derived terra rossa, sandy loams over clay, and some fertile volcanic soils.

This project aims to build soil carbon by applying synthetic or non-synthetic nutrients to the land to address a material deficiency. By correcting specific soil nutrient imbalances, the project stimulates greater plant root and biomass growth, which draws down atmospheric carbon and sequesters it safely into the soil profile.

An interesting note is that the project is managed by Agriprove, one of Australia's largest aggregators and developers of soil carbon projects. They operate a suite of carbon-farming properties in this immediate area, with the McKellar property forming a broader aggregation alongside the identically managed McKellar Carbon Project 1 and McKellar Carbon Project 3.