Policymakers

Support agriculture and sustainability

Peatlands in the EU cover almost 594.000 km2. Almost half of these are degraded and primarily used for agriculture.

There is a more sustainable way of farming. With effective, well-managed and evidence-based approaches, commercial and sustainable crops can be grown on restored peatlands. These include:

Sphagnum moss

A  sustainable fertiliser that can also:

• Significantly reduce flooding
• Contribute to the restoration of the bog
• Benefit air quality
• Create cleaner rivers and water systems 

Typha 

Also known as bulrush or cattail, typha can be used as: 

• A nutritious food
• A sustainable building material
• Biofuel
• An alternative to paper made from wood pulp 
• An animal feed

Berries 

Blueberries and cranberries thrive in acidic and moist growing environments.

Rewetting peatlands reduces carbon emissions and helps restore an important part of our environment and natural heritage. It also helps to reduce both the threat and impact from floods, wildfires and droughts.

Supporting paludiculture benefits farmers and the environment

Palus Demos brings together partners from industry, agriculture and academia across three demonstration sites in Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands, and aims to: 

• Demonstrate the commercial viability of growing crops on wetlands
• Develop new European markets for paludiculture products
• Explore new agricultural business models for paliduculture 
• Make agriculture viable for future generations by ensuring that bog land can be used for sustainable farming
• Create benefits for the environment and help to reduce carbon emissions
• Provide potential additional income for peatland farmers by selling carbon credits

The project is backed by funding from Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation framework for 2021-2027. 

Meeting climate and environmental targets

Wetland farming can help the EU and the UK to meet environmental and climate goals. 

These include article 11(4) of the Nature Restoration Regulation, which states that EU member stages “shall put in place measures which shall aim to restore organic soils in agriculture use and constituting drained peatlands… [including] 30% of such areas by 2030, of which at least a quarter shall be rewetted… Member states may put in place restoration measures, including rewetting, in areas of peat extraction sites.”