Ten farmers in the central west have signed up to capture carbon in their soil as part of a state government trial.
The Lachlan Catchment Management Authority is managing the $200,000 pilot scheme.
Sheep, wheat and canola farmer Sam Stranger has successfully tendered to be a part of the five-year program.
“We basically are viewing this as improving the carbon in the soil for the betterment of our farm,” he said.
“If we do get paid for carbon on the other end of it well that certainly will be a big help because now that the government are bringing in a carbon tax we’re dragged into it anyway because some of our costs like transport, fertiliser, electricity etc are going to go up.”
Mr Stranger says he will plant a perennial pasture on his property to trap the gas.
He says it should improve the quality during the five year project
“The thing about carbon is we can hold more water in our soils with higher carbon in the soils.
“So in the dry years the higher our organic matter was in the soil we found that we were able to store more water in the profile and do better with our pastures and crops and it also helps drive the plant production so it’s a big thing.”
