The boggy bulrush wetter farming trial site in Greater Manchester has had quite a history. Originally part of one of the largest expanses of lowland raised peat bog in the UK, the area was drained and converted to farmland over 100 years ago. Deep drainage ditches and a network of underground field drains removed water from the peat, and the additional of fertilisers created initially productive agricultural land. 

However, this did not last. The area was increasingly waterlogged and proving almost impossible to get a traditional crop of cereals, potatoes or vegetables from. In fact half of the field had been set aside entirely and the other half was being used for a patchy grass crop. And this is a similar story for much of the UK’s drained agricultural peat. 

But unproductive land is not the only issue. Draining naturally wet and boggy peatland causes the oxidation of the carbon that had once been safely stored in the peat, which is then released as CO2. In fact 3 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from drained lowland agricultural peat. A worrying statistic that we are going to have to address if we are ever to reach our net zero climate targets. 

Is wetter farming the answer? 

Wetter farming, also known as paludiculture, is the process of farming land that has a naturally higher water table, in many cases on areas of formerly drained agricultural peat that has be re-wetted. This helps to significantly reduce carbon, and other greenhouse gas emissions, from the land whilst allowing it to remain productive and profitable for the farmer. 

Whilst this may seem like a relatively new practice, in fact wetter farming has long been the traditional way of doing things - think about all of the thatching reed that used to be grown on the boggy fenlands of East Anglia. 

For our Greater Manchester wetter farming trail though we are growing a commercial crop of bulrushes.  

Why are we growing bulrushes? 

After the field was re-wet over the winter of 2023/24, the bulrush seeds were sown by a giant drone in May 2024. And we are delighted to announce that the seeds have germinated and the bulrushes are growing well! 

To test and trial how to produce the most successful crop, different areas of the field were sown using different methods. Bulrush seeds are incredibly fine and so we knew that simply pouring them into to drone’s hopper and spreading them wouldn’t work – they would all just blow away. So instead some seeds were encapsulated into small clay pellets, whereas other were suspended into a cellulose gel, both of which would dissolve when hitting the water and allow the seeds to slowly sink replicating how they would naturally germinate. 

Current indications show that the seeds in the clay pellets have shown a higher germination rate, and current thinking is that the gel could be more suited to a subsequent sowing to fill in any missing patches.

What next?

We will continue to monitor the growth rate of the bulrush crop, and are hoping to achieve the first harvest in 2026. 

Alongside the crop itself, we are also working with Liverpool John Moores University to take regular greenhouse gas emission readings, along with monitoring water quality and the impact on biodiversity. 

Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide readings are being taken for different areas on the field to provide data evaluating how effective the re-wetting process is on reducing these harmful emissions, and the effect that any of our interventions (such as sowing, the addition of any fertilisers, harvesting, raising or lowering the water table depth) have. 

Bulrushes are also believed to provide effective natural water filtration, so water quality readings are also being regularly taken. We are also using eDNA monitoring to assess the numbers and abundance of wildlife species that are using the site now it is no longer under intensive agricultural management.