Duncan Carbon Project 2

Duncan Carbon Project 2 is a soil organic carbon sequestration project located at Colosseum, approximately 7km southwest of Miriam Vale in the Gladstone Region of Queensland. It was registered in January 2023 and covers 156.98 hectares.

Soil organic carbon sequestration projects (under the Measurement and Models methodology) involve adopting new or altered agricultural management practices to increase the storage of carbon in agricultural soils. To achieve increased soil carbon, this project focuses on altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of grazing. The landholders are also applying nutrients to the land in the form of fertiliser to address material deficiencies, alongside re-establishing and rejuvenating their pastures by seeding.

The Gladstone and Miriam Vale region is traditionally known for broadacre cattle farming, beef and dairy operations, as well as timber. The environment features a sub-tropical climate that experiences moderate to high summer rainfall, typically averaging between 800mm and 1000mm annually. The local soil types often feature red loam and clay-loam variations that are well-suited to grazing pastures.

This project is situated on the Irisvilla property, managed by fourth-generation graziers Lance and Kylie Stephenson. With the support of AgriProve, they successfully transitioned from a traditional set-stocking approach across four paddocks to an intensive 38-paddock rotational cell grazing system. This major operational shift, combined with infrastructure upgrades like new fencing and water points, has enabled them to more than double their stocking rate from 20 to 45 DSE/ha. Notably, Duncan Carbon Project 2 is one of the first soil carbon projects in Australia to receive a second issuance of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) under the Schedule 2 protocol, having successfully generated over 6,200 ACCUs to date. The proponents also utilize advanced digital livestock tracking tools like CERES TAG and the READY GRAZE platform to continuously optimise herd movement and grazing efficiency.