Mayfield Soil Carbon Project

Mayfield Soil Carbon Project is an agricultural soil carbon project located at the 'Mayfield' property in Queensland's Central Highlands region, approximately 70km west of Emerald. It was registered in September 2025 and covers an area of 5,193.77 hectares.

Soil carbon projects under the 2021 Measurement and Models methodology aim to increase the amount of carbon stored in agricultural soils. This is achieved by altering the stocking rate, duration, or intensity of grazing to promote soil vegetation cover, rehydrate the landscape, and improve overall soil health.

The Central Highlands area is highly regarded for beef cattle grazing, broadacre cropping, and cotton production. The environment features a semi-arid to subtropical climate with highly variable summer-dominant rainfall averaging between 600-800mm annually. The region is known for its fertile "black soils" or cracking clays, officially classified as Vertosols, which have excellent water-holding capacity and support sustained agricultural production.

Interestingly, Mayfield is recognized as a pioneer property for drought resilience in the region. After suffering severe pasture depletion during droughts, proponents Greg and Sonya Spencer partnered with the Central Highlands Regional Resources Use Planning Cooperative (CHRRUP) to become a demonstration site. Supported by the Future Drought Fund, they installed extensive new fencing, tanks, and troughs to split paddocks and tightly control grazing pressures. This carbon project, managed alongside Carbon Link Operations Pty Ltd, represents the next step in their ongoing efforts to build land resilience and sequester carbon. In March 2026, the project's registration was officially varied to update the participant names to include both Sonya and Gregory Spencer.