Lantana Station sits roughly 150km south west of Charleville and was in poor condition when Carl and Judi Bain took over back in 2009. The land had been significantly overgrazed, so the Bains had work to do to bring it back to health to support their cattle grazing business.

Adding a carbon project to their enterprise in 2017 enabled the Bains to improve the property and the productivity of the land. The additional, regular income means they don’t have to push stocking numbers and can better balance healthy land with healthy profits.

The carbon money has funded large infrastructure improvements with fencing and waterpoints that enable improved livestock management and rest periods for paddocks, which then improves the health of the land. Local businesses have also benefited with most of the investment flowing through to the local community.

The Bains say the carbon project has also helped them expand their enterprise by securing more land and succession plan for the future. And they are quick to point out that none of their land has been locked up in the process. “We’re still here running a livestock enterprise and the land isn’t being locked up,” they said.

What’s more they say the country is becoming a better, stronger ecosystem as a result scattered with mulga, box and other eucalypts alongside bloodwood and Coolbah trees, yapunyah and hopbush.