Researchers

How agriculture and sustainability go together

Paludiculture – or wetland farming –  is the growth of commercial, profitable crops on rewetted wet bogs and fens. But why should a farmer or business invest in paludiculture? It’s a sustainable form of farming, yes, but can it produce commercial crops and products?

Research and development is at the heart of Palus Demos. Why? Because it’s not enough to hope for the best: Palus Demos seeks to prepare wetland farming for market by offering proof-of-concept and showing that paludiculture can create profitable new products and industries. 

That’s why we’re working with some of the best scientists, researchers and academics in Europe.

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 paludiculture 
• 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 carbons 
• Use AI to capture, analyse and scale research findings

Case study: Dr Florence Renou-Wilson, research scientist and senior lecturer at University College Dublin

“I’ve been a peatland scientist for over 25 years. Paludiculture is something I have been really interested in for many years now. 

We need to find a way to give farmers a way to go back to wet peat. It has lots of environmental benefits, but it is also economically sustainable. It can allow farmers to nurture the land while also having a product to sell. 

The Palus Demos project addresses all ecosystem services including biodiversity, water quality, carbon capture and securing a good income for farmers

This has so many benefits but we need to prove it. Sustainable change looks at what works, and why. We need a scientific basis to help show the farmers that it works – almost creating a recipe book. There are lots of crops that can be trialled, and lots of ways to go about it.”

– Dr Florence Renou-Wilson