The Brazilian rainforest is thought of as the world’s greatest “carbon sink”, yet our wet Irish peatlands store four times as much carbon per hectare, while also yielding a range of profitable products such as peat moss; trees, berries, biofuels, herbal medicines and even mozzarella cheese.
The old Cromwellian taunt “go to hell or to Connaught” no longer applies as farmers in the most boggy parts of Ireland – including the west – stand to gain through adoption of paludiculture, a form of wetland farming where even the stoniest hillside or blanket bog can be harnessed by skilful farming and rewetting techniques to yield valuable products and new income streams.
The EU is funding large-scale paludiculture projects, notably a €10 million four-year project called Palus Demos, led by the University of Galway involving 26 European partners and eight universities. The project will explore new agricultural business models and develop markets for paludiculture products, while creating jobs and producing benefits for the environment.
“The project is not about preaching to farmers about the environment, but providing a positive alternative for them,” says project coordinator Niall Ó Brolcháin, who is also research unit leader in the eGovernment unit at the Insight Research Centre for Data Analytics at University of Galway.
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“The aim is to reduce carbon emissions, create jobs and develop European markets for peat-based products,” Ó Brolcháin adds. This includes incentivising farmers to adopt paludiculture by showing its economic benefits and environmental advantage. The project has demonstration sites in the Netherlands, Britain and Ireland, the latter at a family farm outside of Clifden Co Galway.
Some 1.5 million hectares of Ireland’s land (21 per cent) is peatland. Of this, 300,000 hectares are drained for farming. Draining peatlands causes environmental damage, including through turf burning which produces carbon emissions, reducing biodiversity and increasing fire risk.
“There is enormous potential for paludiculture products to be developed on peatlands, with the potential for paludiculture to boost farmers’ incomes, with a gross estimated income of up to €33,000 per hectare per year,” says Ó Brolcháin. There is also potential for farmers to sell carbon credits as an additional income source from paludiculture.
Public support for the practice is growing, as wetland farming offers significant opportunities for farmers to diversify into higher yield crop and biomass production. Project researchers will test the scalability of high-value crops such as sphagnum moss, typha, blueberries and cranberries.
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“It is estimated that there are more than 1.5 million hectares of peatland in Ireland alone, according to the National Peatland Strategy, so turning a proportion of these lands over to paludiculture is an efficient way to meet our carbon targets,” says Ó Brolcháin. “We need to stop preaching at farmers while tying them up in red tape and to start presenting them with realistic, new, high-value opportunities”.
Wetland shift
There has been a shift in Ireland from draining peatlands towards sustainable paludiculture practices. This means there is increasing potential to grow valuable crops such as sphagnum moss – which is highly valued in horticulture for its capacity to absorb and retain water – and common reeds which can be used for livestock forage, thatch, fuel, fertiliser or making crafts.
“We’ve tried to do anything possible with peat and peatlands,” says Dr Florence Renou-Wilson, a researcher at University College Dublin, who has worked on Irish peatlands for 25 years and is part of the Palus Demos project. “Burn it, dry it, plant it, reclaim it, even try to cultivate it. But we didn’t realise what we had in the first place. It’s a bit of a Cinderella story. Its time has come.”
There are a high proportion of farmers in Ireland who have no succession plans for their farms because they are unviable. This project aims to make farms viable again, especially in the west where many bogs are located
— Dr Florence Renou-Wilson
Renou-Wilson adds: “We are working closely with a farmer in Connemara, where there is a demonstration site, to identify the specific characteristics of his peatland and determine the best crops that would grow on wet peat and methods to grow and harvest it.
“We want to develop a recipe book of sustainable peatland management practices that farmers can reference and chose from, for their own lands and based on their own individual circumstances. We want to explore the potential for paludiculture – growing crops on wet peat – to improve water quality and enhance biodiversity, in addition to reducing carbon emissions.”
There are significant challenges to harvesting crops on Irish peatlands, Renou-Wilson acknowledges. Meanwhile, climate change and a reduction of rainfall might reduce the viability of paludiculture in some areas, while planting trees on wetlands is risky, given the threat from climate-change-induced powerful storms.
There is also the negative historical perception of peatlands in Ireland to deal with. “There has been negative cultural language in Ireland associated with wetlands, with the ingrained belief that dry soil is better for agriculture,” says Renou-Wilson. “Ireland’s peatlands were historically used only for burning and draining, but there has been a shift in perception.”
A social benefit of paludiculture means farms can be passed on to future generations. “There are a high proportion of farmers in Ireland who have no succession plans for their farms because they are unviable,” Renou-Wilson says. “This project aims to make farms viable again, especially in the west of Ireland where many bogs are located.”
Carbon capture
Most of Europe’s peatlands have been drained for agricultural use. This draining cause the peat to dry out, which results in rapid decomposition and the release of carbon.
Decomposition of dead plants in wet peatlands is slow due to a lack of oxygen which would normally react and break down organic, formerly living material. This lack of reactive oxygen results in carbon being locked up in the peat, and ancient finds in bogs – such as bodies, wooden Viking ships, and books written on animal skins – can be remarkably well preserved as a result.
To hold carbon, it’s important that wet conditions are maintained to stop it from being unlocked and released. This can be done by raising the water table through blocking drainage ditches or planting flood-resistant plants to slow water flow. Another method is to fence off wetlands to stop grazing which can remove vegetation cover and cause soil erosion.
Connemara demo
John O’Sullivan is a farmer in Connemara. His almost 1,000-acre family farm lies 17 miles west of Clifden and includes sheep, forestry and blueberry cultivation. Despite the diversity of farm income streams from these various sources, he still needs to earn off-farm income to survive. He sees paludiculture as something that might mean he no longer needs to seek outside income.
“We started a paludiculture project in February with the University of Galway, Forum Connemara [development company] and University College Dublin to demonstrate the value of paludiculture on 10 to 15 acres of our land, on which we will be focusing on growing crops like blueberries and aronia [sour berries],” says O’Sullivan.
The scientists are conducting soil tests and water table assessments to determine which areas are most suitable for paludiculture experiments, he explains. Meanwhile, he has ordered plants with a view to having demonstration plots up and working by mid-April.
“When up and running we will organise information sharing events for other farmers on weekends and evenings so they can learn about the paludiculture techniques being tested,” he says. He has called for new government supports to make paludiculture viable for Irish farmers. “This project can redefine the possibilities for marginal lands,” he adds.
O’Sullivan has grown blueberries on his land since the mid-1990s and sells the product to high-end restaurants and hotels. He initially got involved through collaborations with the University of Galway and Forum Connemara.
Some initial work on the farm in collaboration with the scientists was to raise the water table and rewet small areas of peatland, which involved blocking drains and allowing mosses to grow.
“There is potential for ‘carbon farming’ and selling the credits, selling sphagnum moss, and producing perennial crops rather than traditional types of agriculture,” says O’Sullivan.
“With appropriate supports and policies, I’m optimistic about the long-term potential of paludiculture to redefine the possibilities from marginal lands and provide an alternative or supplemental way for future generations to live off the land.”
