DEFRA latest Idea

[Skimmer]

To pay farmers up to 1.5k/ha to raise the water table 10-4 inches below the surface on peat soils, vegetable cropping would still be allowed for a reduced payment.

 

[grainboy]

What In January or July

 

[Skimmer]

What In January or July

All year I assume

 

[Farma Parma]

To pay farmers up to 1.5k/ha to raise the water table 10-4 inches below the surface on peat soils, vegetable cropping would still be allowed for a reduced payment.

Kind of allready doing this in a Peat Bog too a lesser extent. its in Higher Mid Tier scheme but it aint going into arable fields no way.

 

[grainboy]

No problem the last few weeks then,
Or probably be penalised for too much,
Does make you wonder who makes this shite up,

 

[wanton dwarf]

Isn't that going to change the biology of the soil into Anaerobic ?

Becareful about habitat changes

 

[Skimmer]

I took part in a survey, lots of questions about how would it effect neighbouring farms and your relationship with them if you started taking measures to raise the water table. Why couldn't you still farm it, how would it effect the rest of your farm that's not peat. Seems they want to turn all peatland into massive carbon sinks. Absolutely no consideration of how the drainage or lack of it would effect the area.

 

[Skimmer]

Isn't that going to change the biology of the soil into Anaerobic ?

Becareful about habitat changes

The researcher put down, I questioned the science because I thought wetlands produce a lot of methane.

 

[Hindsight]

To pay farmers up to 1.5k/ha to raise the water table 10-4 inches below the surface on peat soils, vegetable cropping would still be allowed for a reduced payment.

Paludiculture – the future of farming on peat soils?

On 27 August 2022, the Government announced a new £5m fund to promote the use of peatlands for sustainable farming [1] – the Paludiculture Exploration Fund (PEF), which seeks to unlock barriers to making commercial paludiculture a reality. In this …

naturalengland.blog.gov.uk

 

[Skimmer]

Paludiculture – the future of farming on peat soils?

On 27 August 2022, the Government announced a new £5m fund to promote the use of peatlands for sustainable farming [1] – the Paludiculture Exploration Fund (PEF), which seeks to unlock barriers to making commercial paludiculture a reality. In this …

naturalengland.blog.gov.uk

That's it

 

[anzani]

So you to fit piped land drains with U bends, to control the level of drainage ??

 

[Hindsight]

So you to fit piped land drains with U bends, to control the level of drainage ??

Think in the Fenland region where topography is more level it would be a case of controlling water levels in ditches around individual fields, or more likely collections of fields. Tricky bit is isolating way from IDB drainage channels. And letting water back in during summer to retain moisture levels. Would work well on a IDB basis with probably several hundred acres or more in a block.

Wicken Fen Nature reserve a good example - think his link may work as to the difficulties encountered as the overall policy for hundreds of years has been to drain not wet.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-the-Wicken-Fen-catchment-and-the-surrounding-area_fig1_226823041

Great Fen project another interesting look see if you are interested. There are links to Paludiculture in other countries

Home | The Great Fen

The Great Fen is a vast fenland landscape between Peterborough and Huntingdon, currently benefiting from one of the largest habitat restoration projects in Europe.

www.greatfen.org.uk

 

[Hindsight]

To pay farmers up to 1.5k/ha to raise the water table 10-4 inches below the surface on peat soils, vegetable cropping would still be allowed for a reduced payment.

Fixing the Fens

Reconciling human activities with nature is never going to be easy, but a new group is using everything it’s got to try and protect a vital part of the UK.

www.cam.ac.uk

 

[Skimmer]

All our peat land has spent the last 3 months under 4ft water.

 

[onthehoof]

Just turn the pumps off for a bit, win win

 

[wanton dwarf]

The researcher put down, I questioned the science because I thought wetlands produce a lot of methane.

Yeah you are correct on this

When I saw that I did wonder why the Environmentalists were pushing for wetland restoration - dishonesty ?

I don't rate blaming livestock - herbivores have been in nature for 100s of millions of years if not longer & create a massive boost for all life with their digestive systems

Almost as if the environmentalists are attempting to damage ecosystems - if livestock worldwide was culled then the resultant fallout would last for decades even if people immediately attempted to rectify it - takes a long time for numbers to be rebuilt

 

[spin cycle]

so livestock is bad...we all need to eat veg....cept all the veg land is going to be turned into bog

more 'joined up thinking from defra'

 

[Skimmer]

Do they not think if this was viable on a large scale we'd already be doing it. Anything can be made to work with models and trial plots.

 

[Spencer]

Do they not think if this was viable on a large scale we'd already be doing it. Anything can be made to work with models and trial plots.

No, we can’t read or write, just drive tractors. They’re much clevererer

 

[Levelsman]

They're looking to include peat moors in Somerset as well - the problem could be shortage of water to keep areas topped up in the summer.

.....and new Gravity site near J23 M5 will need a drop or two if it gets developed for electric car battery manufacturing! Not signed up yet.