Richardson Carbon Project 4

Richardson Carbon Project 4 is a soil carbon agricultural project located approximately 20km northwest of Cunderdin in the Western Australian Wheatbelt. Registered on January 16, 2024, the project covers a project area of roughly 202 hectares. The region is heavily utilized for dryland agriculture, predominantly cereal cropping and sheep grazing, which characterizes the surrounding land use.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology, which incentivizes landholders to sequester carbon in agricultural soils through changes in management practices. Specifically, this project focuses on applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilizers to address material nutrient deficiencies in the soil, a practice designed to boost plant growth and subsequently increase soil organic carbon levels. To generate credits, the proponent must demonstrate a measured increase in soil carbon over time compared to a baseline.

Environmentally, the Cunderdin region experiences a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Average annual rainfall is typically between 350mm and 400mm. The local soil profiles are often complex, featuring sandy loams, ironstone gravels, and duplex soils (sand over clay), which can be susceptible to acidity or salinity, factors that targeted nutrient management can help mitigate. The project is managed by Agriprove, a leading developer in the Australian soil carbon market, and appears to be part of a larger aggregation of projects given the numerical designation "4".