Peatlands, which are important for veg production, are under scrutiny over their emissions contribution
A University of Leicester researcher is investigating how policies to protect and restore lowland peatlands – which support around 40 per cent of UK-grown vegetables – are actually applied in practice.
The adoption of peatland policies by landowners and managers is being researched by PhD student Zoe Lipkens, with the aim of improving understanding of how these policies are working ‘on the ground’ and securing a sustainable future for England’s peatlands.
Lipkens is exploring the regional and local implementation of lowland peatland management policies in the northwest of England through working with NGOs, farmers, landowners, researchers, and policymakers.
It comes as a delegation of academics from the University of Leicester travels to COP29 in Azerbaijan to bring their expertise in climate, sustainability and environmental issues to decisionmakers.
Peatlands act as one of the world’s most effective carbon capture and storage systems in their untouched state, but once they have been modified by drainage, stored carbon is transferred into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Focus on lowland peatlands
In the UK, peat is categorised by lowland and upland peat. Lipkens’ research focuses on lowland peatlands, which are found in low elevation areas such as the Fens in East Anglia. In England, there is around 325,000 hectares of lowland peat with 243,00 hectares used for agriculture.
Most drained lowland peat soils in England are classified as Grade 1 Agricultural Land and are used to grow horticulture and arable crops, with around 40 per cent of UK-grown vegetables grown on drained lowland peat soils.
Lipkens said: “Researchers have established that draining lowland peatlands causes a myriad of negative effects, with one of the most significant being the substantial amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are emitted yearly. Therefore, the high interest from policymakers and researchers in the UK to investigate new potential systems to protect our peat soils is a step in the right direction.
“However, it is important to study not only the national policies regarding peatland management, but also the engagement and implementation of policy by local actors so that we can understand how policy is shaped and communicated in local contexts.
“Through my research, that has examined the lowland peatland management debate in the northwest of England, I hope to communicate any findings on policy improvement to policymakers and researchers that may aid the lowland peatland management agenda in the future.”
The role of paludiculture
A potential responsible peat management practice that is currently being researched is paludiculture. Paludiculture is farming at a higher water table, or ‘wetter farming’, versus the conventional drained lowland peatland agricultural system where the water table is low, and the soil is dry. Farming at a higher water table could be a potential positive solution because carbon emissions can be greatly reduced: the higher the water table the lower amount of carbon emissions being emitted.
In the UK blueberries, celery, Typha (reed), and Sphagnum moss are being trailed as paludiculture crops. However, a shift to paludiculture from the conventional lowland peatland drainage farming system will require physical changes, such as water management infrastructure, market changes, and behavior changes of landowners and managers.
Professor Sue Page, who is one of Lipkens’ PhD supervisors and an expert on peatland ecosystems, said: “Moving to higher water table farming on agricultural peatlands, both in the UK and elsewhere in the world, could bring considerable climate benefits.
“But we also recognise the need to balance climate security with food and livelihood security, and that the potential climate benefits of a change in agricultural land management can only be realised with the consent and involvement of the farming community. Zoe’s research is making an important contribution to this debate by helping us to better understand the potential opportunities, but also the constraints from the farmer’s perspective.”
