John Monaghan on farm at McLachlan Carbon Project
McLachlan Carbon Project at Rocking Chair Farm at Marshdale near Dungog, NSW, has generated 2,110 ACCUs under the Emmissions Reduction Fund (ERF) in two years on 73.6 hectares with 1114mm rainfall.
It is also the second project to go through AgriProve’s Carbon Intensity Assessment. This shows landholders John Monaghan and business partner Alan Smith successfully sequestered more carbon than they emitted for each year of their carbon farming project, proving they are beyond net-zero carbon intensity.
AgriProve has more than 38 projects with measured increase in soil carbon also in line for ACCUs under the new methodology.
Additional issuance comes after Fysh Carbon Project at Mount Tom in QLD generating 3,559 ACCUs in 2 years on 400 hectares.
21 September 2023: The McLachlan Carbon Project near Dungog NSW has successfully generated 2,110 Australian carbon credits (ACCUs) under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) in a two year partnership with Australia’s leading carbon project developer, AgriProve.
The McLachlan Carbon Project has also successfully undergone AgriProve’s Carbon Intensity Assessment. This shows landholder John Monaghan and his business partner Alan Smith are successfully sequestering more carbon than they are emitting each year for their carbon farming project, proving they are beyond net-zero carbon intensity.
The Rocking Chair Farm operation includes 90 breeding Angus cows and calves, 30 Australian White ewes and lambs and a growing pastured egg enterprise incorporating 120 birds in a mobile coop. With farm management that incorporates multi-species pastures and rotational grazing, the project is delivering whole of farm benefits through soil carbon sequestration’s ability to build additional layers of profitability into the business.
The original seven paddocks have been subdivided into 25 paddocks to support rotational grazing where cattle are moved every two to four days to mimic migration patterns. Since the project commenced, the property has installed watering systems including watering troughs to enable paddock subdivision and to build water resilience across the farm, a key concern for the landholder who entered into the partnership with AgriProve after emerging from drought.
The most significant factor in growing soil carbon stocks has been implementing multi-species pasture. Through a three year trial across three paddocks, one under multi species, one with partial implementation of multi-species and a control paddock with no change, by 2022 a marked difference emerged. The soil friability, colour and structure had improved substantially on the paddock with full implementation of multi species pasture.
Before starting rotational grazing and subdivision large areas of the farm’s pasture were dominated by couch. With paddocks now having substantial rest periods followed by intensive short duration grazing, the landholders are seeing a significant increase in plant biodiversity marked by the re-emergence of paspalum, ryegrass, rhodes grass, clovers and some native species. For every one percent reduction in couch there has been a four percent increase in pasture productivity thanks to the emergence of other species.
AgriProve’s innovative approach to monitoring soil carbon projects uses satellite groundcover and biomass data to highlight changes in soil carbon sequestration rates and determine the timing of subsequent sampling rounds. The inherent scalability of the proven model has attracted a research grant from Meat and Livestock Australia, where the site will serve as one of 3 demonstration sites for producers to trial soil carbon practices and explore how soil carbon sequestration impacts the carbon intensity of livestock enterprises.
AgriProve has more than 38 measured project increases in soil carbon, and continues to work closely with partnering producers and the Clean Energy Regulator to streamline the process.
AgriProve is the fastest growing carbon soiltech developer in Australia, with an award-winning, data-driven approach already supporting over 550 projects totalling more than 160,000 hectares. AgriProve’s commercial model of soil carbon farming provides built-in regulatory integrity and a streamlined registration process for partnering farmers while removing carbon project risk.
Private sector operators like AgriProve are boosting investment in healthy soils and the technological innovation required for the scaling and evolution of regenerative agriculture required to achieve the Australian federal government’s emission targets for 2030 and beyond.
Quotes attributable to AgriProve Managing Director Matthew Warnken
“The McLachlan Carbon Project is another proof point of the AgriProve model as an enabler for our partnering farmers to reap the benefits of running a soil carbon project. It is great to see John Monaghan and business partner Alan Smith be rewared for their positive land stewardship and the successful implementation of their soil carbon project through the issuance of ACCUs. They are also the second project we have run through our Carbon Intensity Assessment and have proven that they have gone beyond net-zero carbon intensity.”
“The ACCUs issued to the McLachlan Carbon Project are the first for soil carbon in New South Wales and provide another piece of evidence for the potential of soil carbon right across Australia.”
“We have more than 38 projects with a measured increase in soil organic carbon which are continuing to go through the process of having ACCUs issued as well. We look forward to seeing all of these landholders be rewarded for the effort that they have put into their carbon projects.”
“This project is another display of best practice land management, demonstrating how AgriProve works with partnering farmers to take tangible action on climate change whilst improving the climate resilience and productivity of their landholdings.”
Quotes attributable to McLachlan Carbon Project landholder and farmer of 23 years, John Monaghan
“The first question we asked ourselves three years ago was how can we start measuring soil carbon without so many outlays, and at a way that is profitable and scalable. AgriProve already had the process in place, and we were the second farm in this district to partner with them. I’ve always appreciated their transparency, enthusiasm and ability to answer all my questions.”
“Once Alan and I formed our partnership we were always going to run a regenerative agriculture business, so partnering with AgriProve to earn ACCUs provides an additional economic advantage for us on top of that. For many farmers the argument is that unless you have millions in the bank you can’t make an impact at scale - we’ve now proven a regenerative agriculture business can be profitable and scalable.”
“The most important thing in sustainable farming is making a profit. Our costs of fertilisers and herbicides have gone down significantly but we are spending more on seed to develop multispecies pastures and investing in fencing and water systems. If we take into account, the value of the carbon credits we have received and we’re now cost neutral after just three years. You need to look at it from a practical point with carbon credits – they were at $12 three years ago and now it’s $38. The market will only continue expanding and become more profitable in the next decade.”
“When I began regenerative farm practices I saw it as a 20-year journey. I’m 70 now, and neither of my children are in a position to run the farm – so Alan is working with me to build a legacy here. This long term thinking goes against the traditional focus on short term and fast results. Small, incremental changes have a lasting and measurable impact on farm operations.”
“I know people making changes to their operations to support regenerative agriculture but they are hesitant to sign up to a long term carbon project. I see this as lost opportunity to add another income steam to their operations and that they should consider the years of carbon accounting they’re missing out on without the ability to measure increases in soil carbon.”
“For Alan and I the biggest change is changing how we make decisions. The nutritional value and quality of every farm product comes back to the health of our soil here, and soil health is driven by the carbon content of your soil. We had an agronomist look at our multi species planting recently and recommend synthetic nitrogen fertiliser to give us rapid plant growth and thus increased feed, but it didn’t sit right with us because he was thinking about the plant, not the total system from the soil up. Instead we treated the paddocks with the worm castings to add some nutrients and encourage microbial activity in the soil to stimulate the plant growth. We see multispecies planting as a means to creating more micro environments for microorganisms to grow and nurture our soil and our pastures, which is a slow process but a successful one.”
“Soil driven decision making has been the key for us - that’s the change producers need to make. Make decisions from the soil up, not the animal down.”