The TSC project

The TSC project is a soil carbon sequestration project located in the Arrowsmith East locality of Western Australia's Mid West region. The project area is situated approximately 40 kilometers southeast of the coastal town of Dongara and 35 kilometers west of Mingenew. Registered in September 2024, the project covers 1,953 hectares of agricultural land in a region historically utilized for broadacre cropping and grazing.

This project operates under the Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models (2021) methodology. This method allows landholders to earn carbon credits by adopting new management activities that increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil, verified through a hybrid approach of physical soil sampling and computer modeling. The specific activities for this project involve applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilizers to address nutrient deficiencies and incorporating legume species into cropping or pasture systems. In the context of Western Australian agriculture, this often involves species like lupins or serradella which fix nitrogen and build soil organic matter.

The environment in the Arrowsmith area is characterized by a Mediterranean climate with winter-dominant rainfall, averaging approximately 450mm to 500mm annually. The terrain typically consists of undulating sandplains with sandy soils (often yellow silica sands) over clay or gravel subsoils. These sandy soils are naturally low in organic carbon, making them responsive candidates for management interventions designed to boost carbon levels. The project is supported by Carbon West, a specialist service provider known for managing soil carbon projects in the WA wheatbelt.