Nangwarry Station Healthy Soils Project

Nangwarry Station Healthy Soils Project is a soil carbon project located roughly 5km southeast of the township of Nangwarry and approximately 30km north of Mount Gambier in South Australia. It was registered in September 2024 and covers an area of 2,477.09 hectares.

Projects operating under the Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models (2021) methodology earn carbon credits by increasing the amount of carbon stored in agricultural soils. Standard requirements involve establishing baseline soil carbon levels through rigorous independent soil sampling and committing to new or materially different land management activities. Subsequent sampling rounds and modelling are then used every 1 to 5 years to calculate carbon gains and manage project emissions.

The Nangwarry area, situated in South Australia's Limestone Coast region, is heavily utilised for broadacre livestock grazing, cropping, and extensive pine and hardwood forestry operations. The region features a Mediterranean climate with relatively high rainfall, averaging around 700-800mm annually. Soils in the area typically consist of sandy topsoils over clay subsoils (texture-contrast soils), as well as limestone-derived profiles.

This project specifically targets soil health by altering the stocking rate, duration, and intensity of grazing to promote soil vegetation cover. It also involves re-establishing pastures by seeding and using mechanical means to redistribute soil through the profile. This mechanical intervention is highly suited to the region, where practices like clay delving and deep ripping are frequently used to overcome sandy, water-repellent topsoils. The proponent, Nangwarry Pastoral Company, operates a significant sheep enterprise, regularly purchasing premium stud rams, which demonstrates how active prime lamb and wool operations can be successfully integrated with large-scale carbon farming.