Kilkerran Carbon Project

Kilkerran Carbon Project is a soil carbon project located in the locality of South Kilkerran, approximately 6km northwest of the town of Maitland on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. Registered in September 2025, the project covers 720 hectares of agricultural land. The region is a premier cropping zone, heavily utilised for the production of barley, wheat, canola, and pulses, alongside sheep grazing operations.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models). This method credits landholders for increasing soil carbon stocks through changes in land management. In this specific case, the primary activity involves applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilisers to address material nutrient deficiencies in the soil. By correcting these deficiencies, the project aims to boost plant growth and root biomass, thereby drawing more carbon from the atmosphere into the soil profile.

Environmentally, the Yorke Peninsula features a Mediterranean climate with a winter-dominant rainfall pattern, averaging roughly 500mm annually in the Maitland area. The local landscape, often referred to as the "Kilkerran Land System", is characterised by gently undulating plains with calcareous loams and clay loams over calcrete. These soils are known for being inherently fertile for grain production but can suffer from specific nutrient limitations (such as trace elements like zinc or manganese) due to their high carbonate content, making the project's nutrient-focused strategy particularly relevant to the local geology.