Howson Carbon Project 9

Howson Carbon Project 9 is a soil carbon project located at Tarramba, approximately 130km to 150km southwest of Rockhampton in the Banana Shire of Central Queensland. It was registered on March 4, 2022, and covers 260.41 hectares. The surrounding regional land use is predominantly pastoral, well-known for extensive beef cattle grazing and stud breeding operations. The local environment features a relatively dry sub-tropical climate and a variety of soil types including self-mulching clays, gilgai, and loamy alluvial profiles such as the native Tarramba soil.

This project falls under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models). Soil carbon projects require landholders to conduct baseline soil sampling and implement new, eligible agricultural management activities to draw down and store carbon in the soil over time. For this project, the primary activities include altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of grazing to promote soil vegetation cover and improve soil health, as well as re-establishing or rejuvenating pastures through seeding.

An interesting fact about this project is that it is part of the Gunthorpe Cattle Company, which operates the prominent Tarramba Brahmans and Brangus stud. The family-owned property spans over 20,000 acres and utilizes advanced rotational grazing practices perfectly matched to the carrying capacity of their paddocks. The farm also serves as a Producer Demonstration Site in a research project with Meat and Livestock Australia to study the impact of soil carbon on grazing enterprises and support the industry's carbon-neutral by 2030 target. By investing in multi-species pastures, expansive new fencing, and improved watering systems, the property has successfully sequestered more carbon than it emits, making the cattle enterprise beyond net-zero in its carbon intensity.