“A win-win for farmers”: how the flood fields in northwestern England could increase crops | Agriculture

“I really don’t like the word” Paludiculture “- most people have no idea what it means,” said Sarah Johnson. “I prefer the term” more humid agriculture “.”

The word can be confusing, but the concept is simple: malaria is the use of wet peat bogs for agriculture, a practice that dates back centuries in the United Kingdom, including increasing reeds for thatched roofs.

“There would have previously been much more regions and larger bugs, more humid and more boggies, especially in the northwest of England and in other regions,” explains Johnson, head of the recovery of the nature of Peatland at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust (LWT). But in the hundreds of years, she added, they have been converted “in what we know today as conventional drainage-based agriculture, or for development, or from peat extraction”. In the past, British farmers have even been paid by the government to drain peat bogs for agricultural use, especially after the Second World War.

The United Kingdom now recognizes, far too late, how precious these habitats are. “When the peat bogs are still wet, they are a huge carbon store, but as soon as you voy them₂ Returns in the atmosphere, ”explains Johnson. Over 80% of the UK’s peat bogs are damaged or degraded and most peat bogs of the lowlands have been drained and converted to agriculture, at a cost for the environment.

“Some of the largest programs in agriculture come from agricultural peat soils,” explains Johnson. “Three percent of the greenhouse gas emissions from the United Kingdom come just from agricultural peat in the drained plains – it is a very small proportion of British land which constitute a massive quantity of our greenhouse gas emissions.”

This awareness leads to an international wet agriculture project of 10 million euros (8.4 million pounds sterling) – Palus Demos – in which peat bogs previously drained will be rewet, farmers have helped cultivate crops that thrive in more boggies. “It is not a question of flooding the land and we do not ask farmers to withdraw the land from production,” said Johnson. “We remain the naturally higher water table to rehydrate peat soils, but the land remains in agricultural use. We are trying to find this win-win for the environment and agriculture. ”

Demonstration sites are under development in the northwest of England, in traditional peat cup areas in the Midlands of Ireland and outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands by partners such as Natural England, LWT, the University of Amsterdam, the Manchester Metropolitan University and others.

How does the project cover the peat bogs? “We use a series of measurements, such as the blocking of existing drainage ditches, the elimination of underground field drains and also by installing bunds, which are waterproof barriers made from compressed peat which take place under and above the ground and allow us to keep the water where we want it to be” “We also use spills and irrigation systems that allow us to move is necessary. “

The Crops Being Trialled Include Foods Such As Cabbage, Blueberries, Rhubarb and Cranberries, and Non-Foods Including Bulrushes, Which can be used as a building material and in textiles-ponda, one of the project’s partners, has developed Seedheads Into Sustainable Eco-Textile Used for Filling Padded Jackets-And Sphagnum Moss, which can be for horticultural compost.

The scalability will be crucial, farmers and consumers are unlikely to worry about higher production costs or food prices. “Ideally, we want it to be 100% win-win,” explains Johnson. “But it’s a try. We do not yet know all the answers. Watching the economy is really important. We examine how to make agriculture humid as profitable, if not more profitable, than current agriculture based on drainage. ”

LWT also explores green financing options, including carbon offset diets such as Wilder Carbon and the IUCN peat bog, and payments from the sustainable agricultural incentive of the British government (SFI), which could pay for agriculture in a higher water table, although SFI was reprimanded.

Farmers can find wet and swampy land that is more difficult to cultivate in the short term, which makes it more difficult to access the land to sow crops, manage or harvest, explains Johnson, but some were already struggling in certain areas with drained peat soils which had become unproductive. All the land used for LWT tests came out of production because it was difficult to cultivate. “It did not make farmers’ money, so they had sort of abandoned themselves,” said Johnson. “If rewetting is a way to bring land into production, it can also help farmers.”

The European Demos project on the scale of Europe began at the beginning of 2025, with results expected in 2029. In addition to crop yields, greenhouse gas emissions will be monitored to see the quantity of carbon could be saved by converting the land of use based on flagiculture drainage. The results of the Winmarleigh Carbon Farm Project of LWT in West Lancashire have already shown a reduction of 86% of CO₂ The shows just by returning the peat.

LWT is now “actively engaged with Defra to consider what could be done differently on agricultural peat soils for agricultural benefits and environmental benefits”, explains Johnson. “We work with political decision -makers and we are committed to the National Farmers’ Union and other agricultural groups.”

Réwettés peat soils could be part of a “mosaic landscape” alongside more conventional agriculture, suggests Johnson, in which “basic conservation areas could be buffered by wet agricultural areas that are still productive and bringing income for farmers”.

If the tests succeed, malaria could be implemented more widely. “It would be incredible to see more humid agriculture deployed in peat bogs worldwide,” says Longden. “In the United Kingdom, we have large agricultural peat zones drained in the northwest but also in the East Anglia, the levels of Somerset, Northeast and beyond.

“There is peat through huge expanses from northern Europe, North America and even under the tropics. In all these regions, there will be more humid possibilities for agriculture. ”