SA Hawick Soil Carbon

SA Hawick Soil Carbon is a soil carbon project located at the Hawick property, approximately 50km north of Bordertown on the South Australian-Victorian border. It was registered in October 2024 and initially covered 5055.05ha, though a project variation in August 2025 removed some of the originally listed areas.

Soil carbon projects under the Measurement and Models methodology involve establishing baseline soil organic carbon levels and implementing new, eligible land management activities to actively build and measure sequestered carbon in the soil over a crediting period.

The Southern Mallee area is known for cattle fattening, sheep grazing, and broadacre cropping operations. The area is considered semi-arid with a low average annual rainfall of approximately 350mm, and soils are generally deep sands with naturally low clay content, limited organic matter, and non-wetting characteristics.

This project increases carbon in the agricultural soil by applying synthetic or non-synthetic nutrients to address material deficiencies, planting cover crops to improve soil vegetation, and using mechanical means to redistribute soil through the profile. Notably, this mechanical redistribution involves a process known as "clay delving", extracting clay from below two meters in deep soil pits and spreading it over the sandy topsoil to improve water retention and biomass production. The property also served as a PIRSA Growing Carbon Farming demonstration pilot site. Additionally, project proponent RegenCo has established a 600ha biodiversity certification with Accounting for Nature on the property to monitor and protect threatened woodland birds native to the adjoining Ngarkat Conservation Park.