Silver Hills Carbon Project 5

Silver Hills Carbon Project 5 is a soil carbon sequestration project located in the Banana Shire region of Central Queensland. The project area covers approximately 119.61 hectares and is situated roughly 45 kilometers northwest of the major town of Biloela, near the locality of Rannes. The site's coordinates place it within the Callide Valley, a region renowned for its beef cattle grazing and broadacre cropping.

Registered on April 15, 2025, the project is managed by Agriprove Solutions Co No.2 Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Agriprove, Australia’s leading soil carbon project developer. The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models). This method requires landholders to implement new management activities, such as altering stocking rates, implementing rotational grazing, or rejuvenating pastures with legumes, to increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. Credits (ACCUs) are issued based on measured increases in soil carbon stocks over time compared to a baseline.

The environment in this part of the Banana Shire is characterized by a sub-tropical, semi-arid climate with summer-dominant rainfall. The average annual rainfall for the nearby Biloela region is approximately 650mm to 700mm. The soils in the Callide Valley and surrounding undulating hills are typically fertile Vertosols (cracking clays), which are highly suitable for grazing and carbon sequestration, though the "Silver Hills" name suggests the presence of ridges which may feature texture-contrast soils like Chromosols or Dermosols.

An interesting aspect of this project is its identifier as "Project 5," which implies it may be part of a larger aggregation or a segmented approach to a single property's carbon baselining. This "staged" registration strategy is common in soil carbon projects to manage sampling costs and risk. The region itself has a deep agricultural history, famously named after "Banana," a dun-coloured working bullock used by stockmen in the 19th century.