Climate neutral and biodiverse regional ecosystems

The Cool Soil Initiative at Charles Sturt is a paddock-to-product partnership. It supports farmers in exploring their practices to improve the health of their soil, increase their yield, and reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of the Cool Soil Initiative is to enable a scientifically credible framework for the food industry to support farmers in making a healthier, sustainable future for our farming industry.

This initiative aims to help farmers improve soil health and deliver greater yield and profitability while also pursuing the reduction of on-farm GHG emissions.

The team works with farmers growing hard wheat, soft wheat and irrigated corn in NSW and Victoria, providing on-ground support to farmers, soil tests and GHG emission reports. Farmers are also supported in testing new practices to improve the resilience of their system, including improved soil health. The team are also adapting the Cool Farm Tool, an online GHG calculator suited for commodity supply chain reporting, to suit Australian conditions.

Researchers at the Gulbali Institute, led by Dr Amina Price, have successfully bred the critically endangered Stocky Galaxias in captivity for the second consecutive year. In 2023, the Institute marked a groundbreaking achievement with the world's first hatching of these delicate fish under controlled conditions. And now, the team's hard work has paid off again, with almost 500 babies happily swimming in our aquatic lab!

The fish are only known from one stream, located high in the Snowy Mountains (and only 22km long!). To replicate Alpine conditions, the team needed to build a unique laboratory. They also needed to replicate the year's sunrise/sunset and seasonal changes. It took several years of trial and error to find the right mix of conditions, and the 'bumper' breeding year represents a significant milestone for the long-term survival of this species.

See the full story on Charles Sturt News.