Sims Carbon Project

Sims Carbon Project is a soil carbon sequestration project located at Pine Grove, approximately 35km southwest of Echuca in northern Victoria. It was registered in June 2025 and originally covered a project area of 3,096.23 hectares, though a recorded variation in September 2026 saw some areas removed from the project footprint.

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 eligible land management activities to build stable carbon in agricultural soils, calculating the carbon abatement through a combination of direct soil sampling and approved modeling techniques. For this specific project, the management activity involves applying nutrients to the land in the form of a synthetic or non-synthetic fertiliser to address a material soil deficiency.

The Pine Grove and surrounding Campaspe Shire region is characterized by flat plains predominantly used for dryland grain cropping, sheep grazing, and irrigation farming. The area experiences a semi-arid to temperate climate with a highly variable average annual rainfall typically ranging from 430mm to 500mm. The soil types in this region consist largely of productive red-brown earths, sodic duplex soils (sodosols), and heavier clay profiles.

An interesting aspect of this project is the proponent, LOAM CARBON PTY LTD, a subsidiary of the innovative Australian ag-tech startup Loam Bio. Loam Bio is renowned for developing microbial technologies, such as their CarbonBuilder seed inoculum, which coats seeds with an endophytic fungus to boost plant yields and help capture atmospheric carbon, storing it stably in the soil. Furthermore, the project's name and Pine Grove location strongly align with the Sims family, who are well-known sixth-generation local farmers recognised for pioneering regenerative agriculture, zero-till farming, and multi-species cropping in the district.