Brereton Carbon Project 7

Brereton Carbon Project 7 is a soil carbon sequestration project located in the Mid North region of South Australia, approximately 30km east of Port Pirie and near the town of Crystal Brook. Registered on December 12, 2023, the project covers a project area of roughly 270 hectares. The region is traditionally a mixed farming zone, supporting a combination of broadacre cropping (such as wheat and barley) and livestock grazing.

The project operates under the Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models (2021) methodology. This method awards Carbon Credits (ACCUs) for measured increases in soil carbon stocks resulting from changes in land management. Specifically, this project aims to sequester carbon by applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilizers to address nutrient deficiencies and converting from intensive tillage to reduced or no-tillage practices. These activities are designed to improve soil health, minimize soil disturbance, and enhance plant growth, which collectively drives carbon drawdown from the atmosphere into the soil profile.

Environmentally, the site sits within a semi-arid to Mediterranean climate zone, receiving an average annual rainfall of approximately 350-420mm. The landscape is characterized by red-brown earths and calcareous clay loams, which are typical of the Mid North's productive agricultural plains. These soils are often inherently fertile but can be subject to limitations such as surface sealing or subsoil alkalinity, which the project's management activities, particularly the move to no-till, may help mitigate.

The project is managed by Agriprove Solutions Co No.2 Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Agriprove, which is Australia's largest soil carbon project developer. The "Brereton" naming convention suggests this project is part of a larger portfolio or a segmented project across a specific landholding, likely owned by a local farming family. As a soil carbon project, it requires a long-term permanence period (typically 25 years) during which the sequestered carbon must be maintained.