Messner Carbon Project 25

Messner Carbon Project 25 is a soil carbon project located in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, approximately 30km east of the town of Mukinbudin. Registered on August 5, 2024, the project covers 476.59 hectares within the Shire of Mukinbudin, near the border of the Shire of Westonia. The area is characterized by broadacre dryland agriculture, predominantly utilized for cropping cereals like wheat and barley, as well as grazing sheep.

The project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models) Methodology Determination 2021. This methodology rewards landholders for increasing soil organic carbon levels through changes in land management. Specifically, this project involves applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilizers to address material nutrient deficiencies in the soil, thereby boosting plant growth and carbon sequestration. As a soil carbon project, it requires baseline soil sampling and subsequent rounds of measurement or modelling to quantify the carbon stored over time.

Environmentally, the region is classified as semi-arid with a low annual rainfall of approximately 300mm, which is winter-dominant. The landscape typically features ancient, deeply weathered soils ranging from sandy loams and red loams to heavier clay duplex soils, often interspersed with granite outcrops and salt lakes such as Lake Brown and Lake Campion nearby.

An interesting aspect of this project is its naming convention. The proponent, AgriProve Solutions, frequently names its project aggregations after famous mountaineers and explorers (e.g., Hillary, Tenzing, Mallory). "Messner" almost certainly refers to Reinhold Messner, the renowned Italian mountaineer who was the first to climb all 14 eight-thousanders. This suggests the project is part of a larger portfolio or "cohort" of projects managed under this specific designation.