Butler Carbon Project 2

Butler Carbon Project 2 is a soil carbon sequestration project located approximately 20km northeast of Hamilton in the Southern Grampians region of Victoria. Registered in November 2024, the project covers a project area of roughly 132 hectares. The site is situated within the Western District, a renowned agricultural zone traditionally used for sheep and cattle grazing as well as broadacre cropping.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology, which credits increases in soil organic carbon stocks. To achieve this, the land manager employs a hybrid approach of physical soil sampling and modelling to measure carbon gains. The specific activities undertaken for this project include altering the stocking rate, duration, or intensity of grazing to improve vegetation cover and soil health, alongside converting from intensive tillage to reduced or no-tillage practices. These changes are designed to minimize soil disturbance and maximize biomass retention, key drivers for building soil carbon.

Environmentally, the Southern Grampians area is characterized by a temperate climate with reliable rainfall, typically averaging between 600mm and 700mm annually. This places the project in a high-rainfall zone, which is generally considered advantageous for soil carbon sequestration rates compared to drier inland regions. The local geology typically features the fertile, basalt-derived heavy clay and loam soils of the Victorian Volcanic Plains, which have a high capacity for carbon storage when managed regeneratively.

This project is managed by Agriprove Solutions, a prominent corporate carbon developer in Australia. The naming convention "Butler Carbon Project 2" suggests it may be an expansion of an existing project or part of a multi-stage engagement on the property, reflecting a growing trend of aggregating smaller land parcels into viable carbon projects.