New grant to explore how wetland crops could generate income for Norfolk Broads’ growers
Experts will work with peatland farmers and growers in the area
A new partnership project investigating how crops grown in wetlands could provide sustainable income for Broads’ growers, has been awarded £395,500 from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The ‘FibreBroads’ project will work with peatland farmers and growers to try and overcome challenges they face in growing profitable wetland crops (paludiculture) in the Broads and the Fens.
It will also explore how future farming systems can reduce carbon emissions, hold more water on the land and create benefits for nature.
Plant-based fibres can be grown for materials such as clothing, insulation boards, cavity wall insulation, potting compost alternatives and compostable plates.
The project aims to connect growers with construction businesses such as Hudson Architects who will work with Norwich University of the Arts to test paludiculture products and assess their potential as construction materials.
They will also create a prototype building to raise awareness about future sustainable construction.
Lowland peatlands found in the Fens and the Broads are some of the most productive soils in the UK, producing 80% of home-grown vegetables and beef, but there are concerns over land subsidence, soil loss and CO2 emissions.
When peatland soils are drained for agriculture, the soil releases millions of years of carbon into the atmosphere.
Paludiculture reverses this process by rewetting soils which become a carbon sink, absorbing CO2.
Broads Authority, Environment and Policy Adviser Andrea Kelly said of the funding:
“The Broads Peat Partnership is delighted to have been awarded this funding by DEFRA.
“Working with peatland farmers, we will assess where change is possible and test novel propagation methods and wetland crop systems. This funding will help farmers to develop business networks around the most viable products.
“The project will build on learning from existing wetland crops being grown on marginal land at the Horsey Estate in Norfolk. Two crops are already being grown here; reed for roof thatching and reedmace which is used to clean water, as well as for construction materials.”