Brian's move to a biological farming system has allowed him to apply 15pc of the nitrogen previously used ? a potential reduction of 189 kilograms of N2O emissions on his 400-hectare property.

Through continuous cropping and use of lignite-based biological fertilisers, he has also seen a remarkable return of soil biota - earthworms, beneficial bacteria and fungi to his soils.

His soils are crawling with millions of earthworms.

"I have never seen this many in my life - four years ago you would be hard-pressed to find any. It is just physical proof that what I am doing is good for my soil," Brian said.

"There is also a potential to increase yields but we have cut all our inputs without suffering any losses."

On top of his carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas reduction results, the system helps address problems with hard setting soils, weed resistance, soil compaction, insects and disease.

"It has decreased diseases significantly - there is no blotch in the barley this year and the screenings at harvest have been lower," Brian said.

BFS had reduced stripe rust pressure in wheat and abolished the need for fungicide on bean crops, which had previously been sprayed two to three times each season. Building up soil organic carbon also improvs water retention and enhances vegetation's ability to soak-up nutrients. After "shocking" crop results in 2004, and concerned with the increasing fertiliser and chemical inputs without replacing trace elements, Brian decided he needed to make a drastic change.

"Every year I kept putting on fertilisers at higher and higher rates and it just got harder and harder to kill the weeds," he said.

"And in 2004 I had hardly any organic matter in the soil ? it was about 1.2pc."

Soil tests from 1985 showed organic matter in the soil was about 4pc.

"But after using BFS I have got my organic soil levels up to 2.5-3pc in two years," he said.

After seeing the benefits of biological treatment on two of his paddocks in 2005, he was motivated to apply biological methods to his whole farm.

* Extract from a full Cropping profile in Stock Journal, July 23 issue.