Our bulrush wetter farming trial is growing a commercial crop of typha (bulrushes) on an area of re-wetted lowland agricultural peat. By re-wetting the once drained peatland we aim to reduce damaging carbon emissions and to help protect the remaining soil carbon.

To keep the land productive and financially viable for the farmer the bulrush seed heads will be used by materials science company Ponda® to create BioPuff®, a filling for padded jackets that provides a sustainable alternative to goose down or polyester.

We know that re-wetting the peat is good for the environment, but farming on wetter land poses a number of challenges, especially how do you sow the seeds?

Drone seed sowing

The answer could lie in the air. We have been working with Autospray Systems who provide autonomous drones for the agricultural, forestry and horticultural industries. These giant drones carry hoppers or spray tanks and can fly above the wetter ground to deliver seeds, fertiliser and in the future pest and weed control too, to exactly where it is required.

As bulrush seeds need to be in standing water to germinate, being able to simply fly over the top of the land is a simple, quick and effective way to sow the seeds.

What next?

This first drone seed sowing test is has only covered approximately a third of the trial site, so a further sowing is planned for another couple of weeks, with a final sowing a few weeks after that if required to fill in any gaps where the seeds have not germinated as successfully.

The bulrush wetter farming trial has been designed with raised access tracks running across the site. These are sited the length of a standard tractor spray arm apart and so would allow the encapsulated clay pellet seeds to be broadcast from a tractor as is standard practice for many crops. It is planned to combine this method with the drone for the next sowings.

Germination rates will be monitored to provide comparison data between the seeds suspended in the liquid, encapsulated in pellets, sown from the drone vs tractor, and the varying sowing dates.

We will continue to provide updates about how the bulrush wetter farming trial is progressing, but if you would like to find out more about what wetter farming is and why we are looking into it check out the further information below.

The trial has been made possible thanks to funding from the Paludiculture Exploration Fund, administered by Natural England and Defra, and is a partnership project between The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside, Ponda, Peel L&P and farmer, Steve Denneny.