Mick Carey - Coolamon
Introducing Mick
Mick Carey runs 1200 ha of grazing land near Coolamon, NSW. He started a soil carbon credit project in 2022. Using a combination of permanent multispecies pastures.
“Mick’s farming system in a lot of ways was very conventional but he’s always keen to tweak and change it and is not afraid to be a pioneer or early adopter of a new idea. He’s not attached to history and tradition and is fairly ruthless in discarding things that don’t work. He cares about the environment but his ultimate goal is to have a better life on the farm with less stress and more profit.” - John
Sequestering Carbon
Measurements taken in 2024 show that he has added 0.5% extra carbon to the soil to 90cm depth. This works out as 81,000 tonnes of extra carbon on his farm. This is equivalent to 297,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere.
Increasing Top Soil
Carbon Boost, minimal fertilisers and reduced herbicides has taken his topsoil depth from under 5cm, to over 90cm over the course of 2 years.
Improvements in Soil Health = Revenue
Mick has observed improvements to soil biology, acidity, structure and, water holding. As a result, his soils, plants and animals are thriving. He is reporting a wide range of savings and revenue increases as a result.
In economic terms the results speak for themselves:
Savings in fertiliser, herbicide and vaccinations $/year + $520,000
Increased income from stock $/year + $1,000,000
Additional cost of Carbon Boost $/year - $25,000
Net economic benefit (excluding carbon credits) $/year = $1,495,000
$520,000 Saving
in operational costs
$1,495,000 Net Benefit
from Carbon Boost
Improving Animal Production
Mick compared lambs in two 20ha pasture paddocks with and without Carbon Boost at 25L/ha.
The lambs in the treated paddock grew 50% faster, 3kg/week vs 2kg/week. At the abattoir, they had a 15% higher meat yield than a conventional lamb of the same live weight (lower fat %).
He then got a 20% bonus on $/kg for bigger, marbled cuts that could sell to restaurants.
Carbon Boost cost him just $7/lamb.
