Morrison Carbon Project 5

Morrison Carbon Project 5 is a soil carbon sequestration project located approximately 4km northwest of the town of Goomalling in the Western Australian Wheatbelt, roughly 130km northeast of Perth. Registered in April 2022, the project covers 114.61 hectares of agricultural land. The broader Goomalling region is heavily utilised for mixed farming operations, particularly cereal cropping (wheat, barley) and sheep grazing.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Measurement and Models), which credits landholders for increasing soil organic carbon levels through changes in land management. Standard requirements for this methodology include establishing a baseline of soil carbon through physical sampling and implementing "new or materially different" activities to sequester carbon. For Morrison Carbon Project 5, these activities include altering stocking rates to improve vegetation cover and rejuvenating pastures through seeding or pasture cropping.

Environmentally, the site lies within a semi-arid, transitional rainfall zone, receiving an average annual rainfall of approximately 360mm. The soils in the Goomalling district are typically ancient and weathered, often characterised as sandy loams, yellow sands, or gravelly duplex soils, which can be naturally low in organic matter but responsive to regenerative practices.

A notable aspect of this project is its association with the broader "Morrison" aggregation managed by landholder Ian Clarke. The Morrison Carbon Project made headlines as the first soil carbon project in Western Australia to be issued Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). The operation focuses on regenerative techniques such as no-till farming, the use of biological inputs (LawrieCo system), and multi-species companion pastures to boost soil health and water retention.