Cooeeanna Carbon Project 4

Cooeeanna Carbon Project 4 is a soil carbon sequestration project located at the "Cooeeanna" homestead, approximately 9 kilometers southwest of the town of Lock on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Registered in September 2025, the project covers nearly 248 hectares of agricultural land within the District Council of Elliston. The region is a significant grain-growing hub, known for its mix of cereal cropping and livestock grazing.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology, which credits landholders for increasing soil organic carbon stocks through changes in land management. Standard requirements for this method involve establishing a baseline of soil carbon through physical sampling, implementing a new management activity, and subsequently measuring or modelling the increase in carbon over time. In this specific instance, the project activity involves applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilizers to address material nutrient deficiencies in the soil, thereby boosting plant growth and root biomass to sequester more carbon.

Environmentally, the Lock region is characterized by a semi-arid Mediterranean climate with an average annual rainfall of approximately 400mm. The landscape typically features undulating plains with calcareous soils, often consisting of shallow sandy loams over limestone or calcrete. These soils can be rocky and nutrient-poor, making the project's strategy of targeted nutrient application particularly relevant for improving productivity and carbon storage. The Cooeeanna property itself is known to actively manage these challenging soil conditions, with operations such as stone rowing and picking to prepare land for cropping documented by the operators.

Interestingly, the property owners maintain a digital presence showcasing their agricultural life on the Eyre Peninsula, offering a transparent look into the practical side of farming in this terrain. The project is facilitated by AgriProve, a major developer in the Australian soil carbon market, which often aggregates multiple project areas on single properties (as suggested by the numbering "Project 4") to optimize management and compliance under the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme.