Lochiel Carbon Project 5

Lochiel Carbon Project 5 is a soil carbon sequestration project located near the small town of Lochiel, approximately 125km north of Adelaide in South Australia's Mid North region. Registered on January 2, 2026, the project covers a land area of roughly 466 hectares. The location sits within the Wakefield Regional Council area, a district heavily utilized for dryland cropping and grazing operations.

The project operates under the 2021 Soil Carbon methodology (Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration using Measurement and Models). This framework rewards landholders for increasing soil organic carbon levels through changes in land management. Standard requirements involve establishing a baseline of soil carbon through testing, implementing new agricultural activities, and conducting subsequent rounds of sampling or modelling to verify increases.

Environmentally, the Lochiel region experiences a Mediterranean climate with winter-dominant rainfall, typically averaging between 350mm and 450mm annually. The local landscape is often defined by red-brown earths and calcareous soils, which can be structurally fragile and historically low in organic carbon due to intensive cultivation. This specific project aims to address these soil constraints by applying synthetic or non-synthetic fertilisers to correct nutrient deficiencies and incorporating legume species into cropping or pasture systems. These activities are designed to boost biomass production and fix nitrogen, thereby driving the sequestration of carbon into the soil profile.

An interesting note is that the proponent, AgriProve Solutions, manages a significant majority of Australia's registered soil carbon projects. They typically utilize a "digital twin" approach, combining soil sampling with satellite data to monitor performance. This project likely represents a transition for the landholder toward regenerative agricultural practices, aiming to simultaneously improve farm productivity and generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).