‘A win-win for farmers’: how flooding fields in north-west England could boost crops | Farming

“I really don’t like the word” broadcasting ” – most people have no idea what it means,” says Sarah Johnson. “I am the best term”Wet agriculture‘ “

The word may be confusing, but the concept is simple: Paludic cultivation It is the use of wet peat lands for agriculture, a centuries -old practice in the United Kingdom, including the increasing reeds of straw surfaces.

“It could have been much more than that of the vast areas, humidity and humidity,” says Johnson, president of Peatland Nature Recovery in northwestern England and other regions. Laschire Wildlife trust (LWT). But over the past hundreds of years, she adds, it has been converted to “what we know today as traditional sanitation, to development, or from peat extraction.” In the past, the government was driven by British farmers to drain the peat lands for agricultural use, especially after World War II.

The United Kingdom now recognizes very late, the precious extent of these habitats. “When the peat lands are still wet, it is a huge carbon store, but as soon as it is drained₂ “It returns to the air,” says Johnson. 80 % of peat lands in the UK were damaged or deteriorated Most of the low -land peat has been drained and converted into agriculture, at a cost of the environment.

“Some of the largest emissions of agriculture are agricultural soil,” says Johnson. “Three percent of Emissions of greenhouse gases in the UK come only from agricultural peat low -decentralized lands It is a truly small percentage of UK lands, which constitute a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions. “

This perception leads a wet implant project worth 10 million euros (8.4 million pounds) – Palus Demos – The pre -drained lands that were previously depleted, as it helped farmers grow crops that flourish in more severe conditions. “It is not a matter of dumping the land and we do not ask farmers to get the land out of production,” Johnson confirms. “We recall the high water level naturally to moisturize the soil of peat, but the land remains in agricultural use. We try to find that winning the environment and agriculture.”

The demonstration sites are developed around the northwest EnglandIn the traditional peat -cutting areas in Midlands in Ireland and outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands by partners including natural England, LWT, Amsterdam University, Manchester Metropolitan University and others.

How does the land project restore peat? “We use a series of measures, such as blocking the current drainage trenches, removing the underground field banks, and also by stabilizing the factors, which are water -resistant obstacles made of compressed peat that operate underground and the top of the earth and allow us to preserve water where we want to be,” says Mike Longgein. “We also use dams and irrigation systems that allow us to transport water where need.”

Crops that are tried for foods such as cabbage, berries, rose and cranberries, and non-foods including the movie, which can be used as building materials and textiles- include BondaOne of the project partners, A process of converting delicate seeds into a sustainable environmental text used to fill the moss sphagnum, which can be used in gardener compost.

The ability to expand will be decisive, as farmers and consumers are unlikely to be keen on high production costs or food prices. Johnson says: “Ideally, we want this victory to be 100 %,” says Johnson. “But this is an experience. We don’t know all the answers yet. Given the economy is really important. We are looking at how to make wet agriculture profitable, if not more profitable, than the current traditional agriculture on exchange.”

LWT also explores green financing options, including carbon displacement plans Carbon and IUCN Peatland CodeAnd Rural supervision payments From the UK government Sustainable agricultural incentive (SFI), which can pay the price of agriculture in the high water level, although SFI may temporarily stop.

Johnson says, farmers may find wet and torn lands that are difficult in the short term, making it difficult to reach lands to plant crops, management or harvest. All lands used in LWT experiments were out of production because it was difficult to far. “The farmers did not make any money, so they surrendered,” says Johnson. “If the restart is a way to reproduce to the lands, this can also help farmers.”

The Palus Demos project began in Europe in early 2025, with results expected in 2029. In addition to crop revenues, greenhouse gas emissions will be monitored to know the amount of carbon that can be saved by converting lands from drainage use to baludestics. LWT’s results Winmarleight Carbon Farm The project has already shown the project 86 % decrease in CO₂ Emissions Only from rewriting peat.

Johnson says that LWT is now “actively involved with Defra to consider what can be done differently on agricultural soil for agricultural advantages and environmental benefits.” “We are working with policy makers and participated with the National Farms Union and other agricultural groups.”

The soil of peat that is re -raised can form part of the “physical landscape” as well as more traditional agriculture, as Johnson suggests, where “basic preservation areas can be stored through the most moisturizing agricultural areas that are still fruitful and placed for farmers.”

If the trials succeed, Paludiculture can be performed on a larger scale. “It will be surprising that we see wet agriculture rolling across the lands of peat all over the world.” “In the United Kingdom, we have large areas of exhausted agricultural peat in the northwest and also in East Angelia, and the levels of Sumerrest, northeast and outside.

“There is direct peat across huge northern areas EuropeAnd North America and even in the tropics. In all these areas, there will be the possibilities for wet agriculture. “