Bokhara Plains Soil Carbon Project

Bokhara Plains Soil Carbon Project is a soil carbon project located on the Bokhara Plains property, approximately 35km north of Brewarrina in North West New South Wales. It was registered on October 21, 2024, and initially covered a larger area before a variation on September 25, 2025, removed certain areas, bringing the active project size to 4,123.23 hectares. The Brewarrina region is situated within the rangelands, where the dominant land use is extensive agricultural and pastoral grazing for sheep and cattle.

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 taking baseline physical measurements of soil organic carbon and using modeled estimates to track sequestration over a crediting period. Standard methodology requirements dictate that proponents must implement one or more new or materially different management activities to improve soil health. For this project, the core activity involves altering the stocking rate, duration, or intensity of livestock grazing to promote vegetation cover and increase soil carbon in the agricultural system.

The environment surrounding Brewarrina is classified as a semi-arid, low-rainfall zone, typically receiving an average annual rainfall of just 380mm. The regional soils primarily consist of hardsetting claypans, red-brown earths, and cracking clays, including those classified under the Wongal Land system. These soils can become severely degraded and bare without careful long-term management.

Graham and Cathy Finlayson, co-proponents of the project alongside Atlas Agri Solutions Pty Ltd (the company behind the popular MaiaGrazing software), have managed Bokhara Plains since 1999. They are widely recognized in the regenerative agriculture space for transforming degraded, bare claypan country into resilient pastureland through intensive rotational grazing and holistic management techniques. Their daughter Harriet also operates a regenerative pasture-raised poultry enterprise on the property, moving the chickens strategically to enhance soil nutrient cycling. This soil carbon project serves to formalize and reward their ongoing "rain-ready" approach, which aims for 100% ground cover to maximize water retention and enterprise resilience during droughts.