Lowland carbon peat soils are precious — from storing vast amounts of carbon to being a key wildlife, food and hydrological resource. Yet they are severely degraded, leading to soil and nature loss, greenhouse gas emissions and water issues – whilst still being in demand as farmland. The Wildlife Trusts hosted a panel of practitioners and experts with the Soil Association and Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership to initiate a discussion on key challenges and solutions.

Government and businesses are taking action

Robert Caudwell OBE, Chair of the Defra Lowland Agricultural Peat Taskforce, shared his experiences with the panel of collating the thoughts of an expert group that is looking at the future of farming on lowland peat. He talked about the harsh realities facing us with peatland soils being vital carbon sinks, key nature sites and essential water regulators. But they are also very important areas for growing a significant portion of UK vegetables, plus other crops, and maintain significant livelihoods in the areas where they are used for arable, horticulture and grassland. The report from the Taskforce he led came out in 2023 and has helped Defra prioritise their work including funding trials and research, and modelling lowland peat options from continuing with levels of wetter farming to full peatland restoration.

During the discussion, Robert noted, the large and growing issue is clearly water and how to manage it well.

This was echoed by Harry Winslet of G’s Fresh – a major grower of vegetables on the peat soils of the Cambridgeshire fens. He has a good understanding of both how good peat soils are for this job, but also the challenges in changing production and managing water levels across a landscape. G’s Fresh is trialling wetter – and hopefully more sustainable – farming methods growing crops including celery. And whilst they are having some success, G’s Fresh is finding that there are yield penalties and ask, as a business, whether the market or UK Government will help with the lost revenue. They are also using sheep to help increase the fertility of the peat soils. Lucia Monje-Jelfs of the Soil Association also spoke about the significant challenges faced by the horticultural industry (outlined in our joint report) and why a coherent strategy is needed which includes distributing horticulture more across the UK.

The role of wildlife

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust work at various levels on lowland peatlands including restoring peatland areas of Greater Lincolnshire¹; working with UK Government on policy and strategy; and gathering information from stakeholders locally to inform their policy work. They are also trialling innovations in peatland food production and advise farmers on good soil and water management, natural capital markets and more. They raise public awareness with events, visits and communications, including with local politicians and schools. Together, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and other Wildlife Trusts with nature reserves on lowland peat soil or working with local farmers, helped to prepare a new discussion paper (Moving Towards the Sustainable Management of Agricultural Lowland Peatlands) on with recommendations for action including relocating food production, implementing wetter farming methods (paludiculture) and peatland restoration.

Read Moving Towards the Sustainable Management of Agricultural Lowland Peatlands

Involving communities in change

The Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership talked through their workshops on The Future of Food in the Lincolnshire Fens, which has involved communities, businesses, farmers and agri-food system stakeholders to address the multiple, interacting challenges in the region. These are co-design workshops where participants are empowered to formulate questions and research responses to come up with a large range of issues and solutions (as well as drawings of the deliberations) from soil and road damage to livelihoods and nature restoration. This work is ongoing, with opportunities to get involved and the results so far can be found on their website.

Workshopping solutions

The session concluded with groups of farmers, academics and campaigners in the room talking together to come up with some ideas including:

• Ensure more horticulture is facilitated elsewhere to reduce pressure on fen peat soils: this could include upscaling smaller-scale agroecological production and supporting productive horticulture in more places including market gardens in and around cities, which could also bring additional co-benefits
• Fiscal measures are needed to stop producer margins being so thin (e.g. land rents, mortgage, debt costs, grants for public goods) and to ensure consumers can afford and access fresh, agroecological produce
• Stop maize production on peat for anaerobic digestor – seen as an obvious bad idea
• Build collaborative farm clusters to create volume for markets and increase control of those markets
• Run test and demonstration farms to show how peat protective farming can be done e.g. looking at and piloting approaches used abroad such as polder farming: reclaimed agricultural areas using traditional techniques and water conservation in the Netherlands, Bangladesh and China including rice and cranberry production – could we do that here?
• Ensure the new Land Use Framework covers fenland protection and use and as a priority to engage local people and communities in the process and outcomes 
• Build community supported agriculture/horticulture in the fens
• Model the economics of alternative crops and rewetting systems to show what’s realistic.

This is a complex area with major implications for food supply, nature, climate, water management, local livelihoods and the wider environment. Solutions will be needed and soon given the climate challenges ahead, but also clearly need to be developed with communities, ecosystem experts and farming businesses.

Notes:

1. Such as Bourne North Fen, 54 hectares of arable land that will be restored to fen habitat and wetland protecting buried peat and degraded peat soil, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and returning the peat to a healthy, functioning ecosystem.