Paludiculture for the Fens

The Fens are wetlands but when drained for agriculture the peat becomes a major source of GHG emissions. Waterlogged soil supports microbes that produce methane which has intensive GHG effects. Even worse, drained peat can harbour underground fires which release GHG emissions as well as being a huge danger to wildlife [1]. Farming in wetland is called paludiculture [2].

Paludiculture can produce a wide variety of useful crops including food (not just fish, though in medieval times the fenlands were renowned for producing a large quantity of fish [3]), fibre and growing media to replace peat.

In the UK, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has trialled growing rice and the Wildlife Trusts are exploring a range of wet farming techniques [5].

Here is a range of useful products [4] including many listed by a project in Germany called Greifswald that aims to promote peatland as a vital ecosystem.  In the UK the fens are mainly used to grow food but there is potential for many other products.

• Food

o Vegetables

 Celery

 Lettuce https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1wgeq702dyo

 Duckweed

o Fruits

 Cloudberry

 Blueberry

o Rice

 Rice paddy 

 UKCEH is trialling basmati rice and several types of risotto rice

• Animal feed

• Cattail (also called Typha, bulrush (beware it can absorb heavy metals, also too fibrous for cattle feed), willow leaves, millet (stems and grains) 

• Duckweed growsfast and can be used to replace a proportion of wheat and/or soybeans in the diet of chickens

•  [6] (high protein and can be used for phytoremediation as it soaks up excess nutrients that could otherwise cause algae blooms). 

• Packaging material

o Peat is low in lignin which makes it useful for making paper and packaging material 

o Fibre and Reeds (for thatching and insulation, clothing)

• Bulrushes (for clothing)
• Sedge (Early Egyptian papyrus was made from a type of sedge)

• Growing media (replacing peat) [2]

o Peat moss (sphagnum moss) 

• Water resistant materials 
• Reeds are used to make water resistant fibreboard 
• Alder (used for shoring up canal banks etc as it is resistant to rotting)

[1] The danger of peatland fires.

[2] The productive use of wet and rewetted peatlands 

[3] A brief history of the Great Fen

[4] Paludicultural plants and utilisation options (selection) (Griefswald Mire Centre)

[5] Great Fen – Our Projects

[6] Economic analysis of using duckweed as feed supplement in the commercial rations of native chickens

A Syampurnomo et al 2019 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 260 012017