Invention gets soil carbon measurement off the ground
Researchers have invented an instrument to measure carbon levels in soil, making it more feasible to monitor large areas of land.
The instrument, called the 'carbon soil bench', is a furnace on wheels, that burns a soil sample and tests how much carbon dioxide is created.
Robert Pallasser, from the Soil Security Lab at the University of Sydney, says the instrument is proving to be cheaper, more accurate and less labour-intensive than the current measurement techniques that have proved a substantial barrier to soil carbon projects under the Carbon Farming Initiative.
"Currently, it's a very laborious process to measure soil carbon." he said.
"The standard method of determining soil carbon relies on very small amount of material.
"You take a pinch from here and a pinch from there, and you've got this huge variation.
"This method, I believe, is a lot more reliable and a lot more robust across on an agricultural scale.
"You're taking large material, and you are integrating all the carbon that's in that material.
"Then you're getting one number that represents that whole core and it's just a few dollars to get that result."
It takes ten minutes to process one core, or sample, that is generally about an inch in diameter and up to a metre in length.
The 'carbon soil bench' is not commercially available and is still lab-based.
But Mr Pallaser says farms or regional centres could have one to facilitate local soil carbon projects in the future.