Moonbria Soil Carbon Project

Moonbria Soil Carbon Project is a soil carbon project located approximately 65km south-west of Barcaldine in central-western Queensland. It was registered on March 2, 2026, and covers an expansive 18,508.27 hectares.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models) Methodology Determination 2021. Soil carbon projects involve implementing new or materially different agricultural management practices to increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. For this project, the primary activities include altering the stocking rate, duration, or intensity of grazing to promote soil vegetation cover and improve overall soil health. This measurement-based methodology requires robust baseline soil core sampling and ongoing testing to accurately verify the carbon sequestered over time.

The Barcaldine region is primarily known for its agricultural land use, specifically beef cattle and sheep grazing on native rangeland pastures. The local environment is classified as semi-arid, experiencing long hot summers with low and highly variable annual rainfall averaging around 430mm to 500mm. The project area sits within the Mitchell Grass Downs bioregion, which is characteristically known for its deep, heavy, cracking clay soils.

Interestingly, Moonbria is part of a massive dual-project rollout alongside the adjacent Avondale Soil Carbon Project, both spearheaded by proponent Graeme McDonald and managed by Carbon Link Operations Pty Ltd. Together, these two continuous projects cover over 37,000 hectares, which recently accounted for nearly 4% of all land under active soil ACCU projects nationwide. The sheer scale of this registration by CarbonLink bucks a recent industry trend that had seen a shift towards smaller, fragmented soil carbon projects.