St. Fillan Soil Carbon Project

St. Fillan Soil Carbon Project is a soil carbon project located at St. Fillan Farm in Narbethong, approximately 95km northeast of Melbourne and 24km from Healesville in Victoria. The project was registered in June 2024 and covers an area of 162.57 hectares. The region is characterized by cool temperate cattle grazing and forestry, situated in the foothills of the Black Spur and bordering the Black Range State Forest.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology, which credits increases in soil organic carbon (SOC). The process involves measuring baseline carbon levels, implementing new management activities to sequester carbon, and modelling or measuring the resulting changes over a 25-year period. St. Fillan's specific activities include altering grazing intensity to promote ground cover, rejuvenating pastures with legumes and cover crops, and applying gypsum and nutrients to address soil constraints.

Environmentally, the Narbethong area receives high rainfall, historically averaging around 1,300mm (52 inches) annually. The local soils are described in property records as deep, rich, and fertile, likely Dermosols or volcanic clay loams common to the Yarra Ranges. However, the project's inclusion of gypsum application to "remediate sodic or magnesic soils" suggests that while the topsoil may be fertile, the land requires management of underlying sodicity or magnesium imbalances to optimize soil health and carbon storage.

St. Fillan Farm itself is a property of significant historical interest. Established in 1880, it was once the private country retreat of Victorian Premier Sir James Munro. The estate features extensive heritage gardens originally designed by Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, and reportedly once contained a tree species from every known country at the time. Today, the property operates as a premier cattle stud (producing Red Angus and Belted Galloway) while integrating these modern carbon farming practices.