Messner Carbon Project 11

Messner Carbon Project 11 is a soil carbon project located at Warralakin, roughly 40km east of Mukinbudin in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. It was registered in June 2022 and currently covers 448.29ha.

Soil carbon projects (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models) involve adopting new, eligible management activities to build soil carbon. Standard requirements include establishing a baseline carbon level and undertaking scheduled direct soil sampling and laboratory analysis to measure carbon gains over a 25-year crediting period. This specific project achieves this by applying nutrients to the land in the form of a synthetic or non-synthetic fertiliser to address a material deficiency.

The Warralakin area is known for broadacre dryland mixed farming, typically running crop rotations of wheat, canola, lupins, and chickpeas alongside grazing operations like Merino sheep flocks. The area is considered semi-arid with low annual rainfall (typically 280-300mm), and soils are generally sandy loams and strong red clay loams.

The wider Messner Carbon Projects were established to improve moisture retention, resilience, and long-term sustainability of the soils. They are notable for being some of the first cropping enterprises in the WA Eastern Wheatbelt to successfully earn Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) in a challenging, low-rainfall environment. A variation to the project occurred in December 2025, which saw some originally listed areas removed from its boundaries.