Great Fen in Cambridgeshire to join European 'wet farming' trial
A rich fenland has been chosen as one of four locations in Europe to trial a system of "wet farming" to maintain valuable wildlife ecosystems.Great Fen at Speechly's Farm, between Peterborough and Huntingdon, is part of a so-called "paludiculture" pilot, known as the PaluWise project. The method involves growing without draining the land - and at the Great Fen it will be used to grow crops including bulrush and wet grassland.Lorna Parker, project manager at the Great Fen, said: "We're excited to be helping find new solutions to the challenge of growing crops in low lying areas while locking in carbon and protecting wildlife."
Paludiculture is used to help lock carbon into the peat soil - which creates a habitat for wetland species including wading birds, water voles and dragonflies.It also involves storing water during floods and releasing it during periods of drought.
The pilot project will run for more than four years, bringing together 18 partners from eight European countries. As well as Great Fen, it will be trialled at sites in Finland, Poland and the Netherlands.While bulrush will be grown at the Cambridgeshire site, elsewhere they will trial downy birch and sedges.PaluWise hope the project will establish paludiculture as a widely recognised farming system in Europe. It said the method can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%.
Due to East Anglia's low rainfall, practices that work on the Great Fen could be replicable on most lowland peat habitats in the UK. Ms Parker said: "A key ambition of the Great Fen vision is to change the way society thinks about peat landscapes, and learn new ways to protect it."So it's fantastic to be a part of a consortium looking to promote wet farming across national borders." She said nature, farming and communities could all benefit from restoring peatlands."We hope to make the Fens proud as a showcase for wet farming across Europe," she said.
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