Drained peatlands today cause more CO2 emissions than all global air travel combined — which is why some farmers in Germany are experimenting with rewetting these areas. But so far, it remains a risky business model.
Anyone visiting farmer Henning Voigt’s operation near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast stands a good chance of getting their feet wet. About 25 years ago, his father began rewetting a once-drained peatland. “We’ve been an organic farm since 1996 and currently manage 350 hectares (864 acres) of grassland. Most of it is very wet,” Voigt says.
Speaking with DW, Voigt explains that the hay they harvest from these wet fields is burned in a power plant to produce district heating. Cattle farming isn’t possible there because the nutritional value of peatland plants is too low.
“The cows would starve with full stomachs,” he says, which is why he has steadily reduced his herd of suckler cows.
Peatlands store more CO2 than all the world’s forests
Voigt and his father are among the pioneers practicing agriculture on peatlands in Germany. For centuries, peatlands in the country were drained, leaving only about 2% of the original area in a near-natural state today.
“Germany is one of the countries that has drained peatlands the most extensively,” says Franziska Tanneberger from the Greifswald Moor Center in Germany.
That’s a serious problem. Although former peat soils make up just 7% of Germany’s agricultural land, they account for almost 40% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, she told DW.
Under the wet surface of peatlands lies a massive carbon store, making them a crucial lever for climate protection. Although peatlands cover only about 3% of the Earth’s land area, they hold roughly one-third of the world’s soil carbon — twice as much as all the planet’s forests combined.
Drained peatlands are climate offenders
When peatlands are drained, the stored carbon comes into contact with oxygen, forming CO2 that escapes into the atmosphere. Instead of protecting the climate, former peatlands accelerate global warming — and that’s exactly what’s happening: drained peatlands now emit more CO2 than global aviation.
“Fortunately, about 85% of the world’s peatlands are still in a good, natural, wet condition,” said Tanneberger. But that could change, she added, as roughly half a million hectares of peatland are drained every year.
For the climate, the best solution would be to protect intact peatlands and rewet drained ones. But that’s easier said than done.
In tropical regions, peatlands are still being drained for agricultural use, often because local communities lack awareness of their ecological value, Tanneberger explains.
Most drained peatlands, however, are found in Europe, where the focus is now on rewetting. Yet many of these areas are used for farming, forestry, or even settlements, making it difficult to restore them to their original state.
For farmers, the issue is deeply tied to their livelihoods.
Karsten Padeken of the Lower Saxony Farmers’ Association argues it makes no sense for farmers to rewet peatlands because “there’s no way to make a living from it.”
Padeken’s 500 cattle graze on fields in the Wesermarsch region in northern Germany, some of which were once peatlands.
Padeken, who chairs the association’s peat farmers’ working group, says paludiculture — farming adapted to wet peatlands — isn’t yet a realistic way to make a living.
“I listen to the farmers and what they have to say. Most of them want nothing to do with it,” he told DW.
What potential does paludiculture hold?
There are plenty of ideas for how paludiculture could work. Some projects focus on using peatland plants for energy — for instance, to produce biogas or heat, as on Voigt’s farm.
Others are testing construction and insulation materials made from reeds, cattails, or sedges. Such products, prototypes, and services are listed in the “Paludiculture Catalog” published earlier this year.
Padeken still sees paludiculture as a niche market. “It’s not yet ready to be done on a large scale,” he said. “Not even on a small scale.”
Indeed, most projects in the catalog are still in testing phases, and only a few have reached the market.
It’s a classic chicken-and-egg problem: Without a larger supply of paludiculture products, there’s little demand. But without demand, it doesn’t pay to produce them.
And even if demand were to grow, farmers who haven’t rewetted their land can’t meet higher demand right away — it takes several years before rewetted fields yield a harvest.
Farmer Voigt hopes for long-term demand from Germany’s largest mail-order company, Otto Group, which has pledged to include plants from paludiculture as raw materials for its cardboard packaging.
“They’re running a small project now, then a medium optimization phase, and after that it’ll need to scale up quickly,” said Voigt. Otherwise, Otto might look elsewhere, which wouldn’t be a problem for him. “I have certified peatland areas and can deliver the biomass.”
Subsidies are essential
For Voigt, paludiculture already provides some income, but he still relies heavily on EU subsidies. “That’s the main component of my earnings,” he said — a tricky business model, since agricultural subsidies are only guaranteed for five years.
“Now go to a bank and tell them your income is secure for just five years. They still consider me a high-risk operation,” he added.
Yet paludiculture also requires investment — for example, special machinery that can operate on wet soils.
Additional financial support for farmers restoring peatlands may soon become available. Germany’s Environment Ministry and the Agricultural Development Bank are working on a comprehensive funding program, according to Tanneberger.
“The trend is clear,” she added, “in the future, those who prepare and learn how wetland farming can work will be better positioned in the medium and long term.”
A 2021 agreement between Germany’s 16 federal states and the central government in Berlin already stipulates that by 2050, all peatland areas should be managed as wet as possible.
Denmark has gone a step further and plans to put a price on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. If Germany were to do the same, CO2 emissions from drained peatlands would become costly for farmers. Conversely, paying farmers for avoided emissions could motivate them to rewet their land.
Making wetland farming more attractive
To solve the chicken-and-egg problem, Tanneberger suggests that the government commit to buying a fixed quantity of paludiculture products from farmers. Anything that offers long-term prospects, she said, would help.
Padeken, meanwhile, wants more financial support — and more flexibility for experimentation. Currently, once land is rewetted, it cannot be drained again.
“If that were allowed, I’d be more willing to experiment on parts of my land,” he said.
For now, however, every farmer thinks very carefully before taking the risk of going into peatland farming.
This article was originally written in German.
