Soil Health, Carbon Farming, and Carbon Credits
What is soil health
Soil health is a measure of the functioning of soil as a system composed of life forms like bacteria and fungi. It is characterised by the soil texture (sand, silt and clay) of the parent material, the structure status, and the soil chemistry (P, K, pH etc).
Your focus as a land owner for measuring the soil attributes and indicators may range from managing and improving farm productivity to assessing the soil in respect of ecosystem services and offsite impacts to report to stakeholders.
Horticultural and cropping enterprises may already be using creating and applying some compost, growing cover crops or raising the pH of their soil. You may consider that increasing soil carbon is the prime measure of success. You may also see it as the first step on a path that could lead to an income from environmental services, particularly from carbon credits.
We provide services to assist companies in developing a clear and deeper, science-based understanding of the factors that influence the storage of more organic matter in the soil, undertanding the range of factors that make up soil health, and the measurement and mapping of them, and the process of applying for registration of a soil carbon project.
The Soil Carbon Cycle
Vegetation litter, roots and carbohydrates exuded through the root tips to feed soil biology all add to soil organic matter/soil carbon. Soil processes release some of that as CO2 which finds its way back to the atmosphere. Soil temperature and humidity are the key influences. Careful management of the flux of soil carbon is required in order to increase it.
Soil organic matter (SOM) is not identical to soil organic carbon. Soil organic matter is a continuum of organic compounds of plant, animal, and microbial origin that are progressively broken down and stabilized with clay minerals and soil aggregates through microbial, physical, and chemical processes. Its between 50% and 80% carbon, which was drawn from the atmosphere by photosynthesis in plants.
For ease in understanding, the soil attributes that are important in understanding the status of soil health can be separated into three themes: soil physical condition, soil chemiical condition, and soil biological condition. Physical condition and chemical condition play fundamental roles in soil biological condition and functioning. In the end, everything passes through soil biology.
We believe that farms considering participation in carbon and other ecosystem markets should assess and quantify the potential benefits to productivity and increased returns from sales of product as the primary source of additional income, and the potential sales of carbon credits as supplementary funds that support investment in your soil.
Get in touch to discuss your how our approach can help your business.
What are the benefits of managing a farm, using a soil health framework?
Managing by soil health principles is good for business, as well as for the company brand. Healthy soils maintain a diverse community of soil organisms that
- help to minimise plant disease, insect and weed pests;
- form beneficial symbiotic associations with plant roots. Almost all plant nutrition passes through soil biology. Roots exude carbohydrates;
- hold plant nutrients in the root zone and make them more available;
- improve soil structure with positive consequences for permeability to rainfall, soil water holding capacity and nutrient holding capacity; and
- improve plant productivity.
Since soil health supports productivity and reduces operating costs, many farms are now more focussed on the soil health broadly not just the soil chemical condition measured in N, P and K. If this is your approach, it may be useful to understand and take up soil carbon farming for its additional financial benefits through carbon credits.
We help you understand the relationships and how to measure your progress.
Carbon Farming: the Potential Benefits and Legislation
In 2011, the Australian government passed legislation for the purpose of reducing Australia’s carbon emissions, by the combination of reducing emissions directly and the trading in carbon offsets. The legislation established the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF), a voluntary scheme that aims to provide incentives for a range of organisations and individuals to adopt new practices and technologies to reduce their emissions. They can be issued with carbon credits for reducing emissions.
The legislation also established an orderly market for carbon credits. Organisations can sequester atmospheric carbon through approved methods, and be issued carbon credits which can be sold at auctions.
A separate federal agency, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), approves and audits projects for the ERF, and issues carbon credits. It also conducts carbon credit auctions twice a year.
An Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2-e) stored or avoided by a project. An ACCU is a financial instrument like a share or bond.
Frequently Asked Questions
Potential Quantity of ACCUs We Can Produce and Value of ACCUs
It is wise to be conservative in estimating what can be achieved in sequestering carbon credits in soil to avoid repaying some later when audits turn up a deficiency of them. We believe that Kirkby et al 2016 provided good guidance. That Australian study suggested up to 5.5 tonnes over 5 years or about 1 tonne/ha/year can be sequestered in the soil. This matches fairly closely in scale what CSIRO’s looc-c tool estimates.
2016 Kirkby et al, Inorganic Nutrients Increase Humification Efficiency and C-Sequestration in an Annually Cropped Soil. Plos One
In a field study over 5 years, soil organic-C (SOC) stocks to 1.6 m soil depth were increased by 5.5 t C ha-1 where supplementary nutrients were applied with incorporated crop residues, but were reduced by 3.2 t C ha-1 without nutrient addition, with 2.9 t C ha-1 being lost from the 0–10 cm layer.
At the most recent auction, ACCUs sold for $16.10 per unit.
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
How long is the project contract?
Can we vary the project?
Can we revoke or cancel the project after a while?
What are the steps in a carbon project?
We have been doing things for soil health and soil carbon for some years. Can we get carbon credits for that?
Overview of the Land Restoration Fund
The Land Restoration Fund (LRF) was established by the Queensland government to encourage the development of a carbon farming industry in Queensland, including extending the geographic distribution and types of projects, the development of advisors, and carrying out research to support the industry. It has a budget of about $500M over a five-year term for these objectives.
The LRF delivers its support through co-benefit payments to projects it selects through a competitive process.
A co-benefit is a benefit delivered largely as a consequence of the implementation of a carbon farming project. For example, a project using a vegetation method might plant mixed native species of trees in an area previously cleared, and is adjacent to an area known as habitat for an endangered species. A significant increase in habitat area for an endangered species would potentially be a co-benefit. The project design is to get carbon credits for the carbon stored in the trees, but may win a co-benefits project with the LRF for the habitat created.
The co-benefits must assist in the delivery of State priorities.
There are three main categories of co-benefits that the Land Restoration Fund supports:
- Environmental – biodiversity, habitat for threatened species, and healthier soils, wetlands, and water systems
- Social and Economic – improving the resilience and strength of regional communities by supporting direct and indirect jobs, and more money flowing into Queensland’s regions
- First Nations – providing on-country business opportunities as well as new service delivery businesses and supporting cultural and customary connections
Projects supported by the Land Restoration Fund may seek to claim co-benefits from one, two, or all of the main co-benefit categories.
The LRF Priority Investment Plan sets out the specific details for investment in those broad categories:
- Priority 1: Land restoration to improve the health of wetlands and coastal ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef
- Priority 2: Land restoration for threatened species and ecosystems
- Priority 3: Land restoration for social and economic sustainability
Under each Priority, the Investment Plan sets out specific targets in some detail. A copy of the Investment Priority Plan can be downloaded here.
Co-benefits must be quantified and audited either by third party entities or proponent declarations.
Details are also available at the LRF website:
https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/climate/climate-change/land-restoration-fund