More than $600,000 will be awarded to projects helping to build the carbon farming market in South Australia.

Part of the Growing Carbon Farming pilot, seven projects which demonstrate commercial carbon farming activities as well as measurable environmental, social and economic co-benefits for South Australia will receive between $43,000 and $100,000 in funding.

The projects span horticulture, livestock, cropping and dairy, ranging from soil carbon sequestration and revegetation, to animal effluent management project activities and are located around the state.

Through the pilot, carbon farming methods with application to South Australian production systems will be demonstrated, helping to increase awareness and adoption of carbon farming among South Australian primary producers using methods suitable to South Australian conditions. The pilot program is intended to assist primary producers to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by carbon and environmental markets and market access in a low-carbon economy.

The successful projects are:

• Duxton Apples ($43,990) Soil carbon sequestration in alley-crop production systems through cover cropping practices.
• Thomas Elder Institute ($99,400) Capturing carbon neutral opportunities for livestock production systems in the upper South East of South Australia.
• Upper North Farming Systems ($99,726) Applying whole-of-farm carbon project methods for climate resilience and diverse co-benefits in low rainfall farming systems of the Upper North.
• Cloud Agronomics ($85,000) Applying clay amendments to sandy soils for improved soil quality & diversified revenue streams, while establishing an independent Cal/Val site for innovative soil carbon quantification technologies, on a property in the Upper South East of SA.
• Thomas Foods International ($100,000) Improving Carbon Sequestration on Mount Schank Grazing Land for extension in the Thomas Foods supply chain.
• South Australian Dairy farmer’s Association ($100,000) A biogas electricity generation facility combining a Covered Anaerobic Lagoon (CAL) to collect and generate electricity by burning accumulated/collected methane on farm.
• Mallee Sustainable Farming ($96,500) Development and assessment of large-scale cropping systems-based soil carbon sequestration through soil amelioration practices for the SA Murray Mallee.

The funding will help to cover establishment costs for carbon farming including technical advice and carbon measurement, for the 12-month-long projects.

To learn more, visit pir.sa.gov.au/carbon-farming

Quotes

Attributable to Clare Scriven:

This is an exciting initiative for South Australia and is supporting South Australian primary producers to realise opportunities within the developing carbon farming sector.

Carbon farming can assist in mitigating or managing the risks that climate change poses to the resilience of South Australia’s primary industries by restoring landscapes, improving agricultural productivity, and generating new sources of income, along with delivering a range of social and economic benefits for regional communities.

This is the first program of its type in South Australia and another important step in developing South Australia's carbon farming sector and reducing greenhouse gas emissions attributable to agriculture