Could wet farming and ‘paludiculture’ help solve the climate challenge in the Fens?
Chris Hill writes in the Eastern Daily Press (7thMarch) of possibilities of using paludiculture in the wetlands of the ‘Fens’ in Eastern England. Maybe the system could beapplicable in tropical wetlands?
“The possibility of utilising new techniques, known as paludiculture, in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, was one of the themes discussed at the “Tomorrow’s Fenland” event at Park Farm in Thorney, Cambridgeshire.
“Although covering less than 4% of England’s farmed area, the Fens produces more than 7% of England’s total agricultural production and is home to 13,000 different animal and plant species. But it is also a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. While peatlands are a vast terrestrial carbon store, drained peatlands release their carbon, adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and the Fens contains one of the UK’s largest areas of lowland peat.
“Paludiculture reduces greenhouse gas emissions by re-wetting drained peatlands, combined with continued biomass production under wet conditions. Great Fen Project manager Kate Carver described the field-scale paludiculture trial now under way on a 4 ha plot close to Peterborough. This is testing ways of growing innovative new crops, such as sphagnum moss and typha, for food, healthcare and industry, through wet farming, as well as locking in carbon”.
“We think this is the first pilot of its kind in the UK and we will be learning a lot from the monitoring work we are doing. We are hoping to start a ripple effect and we want farmers and growers to get involved in the possibilities and opportunities,” she said.
Read more ….
[Thanks to member Bill T]
