Conservation and farming experts have come together to discuss how innovative farming techniques could improve the future of Chat Moss’ farms, during a Countryfile special.
Moss Lane Farm was featured on last night’s (Sunday 16 April) episode on BBC1, which saw the Countryfile team embark on an ambitious 12-month mission, ‘Wild Britain’, to save the country’s precious landscapes
The Wildlife Trust’s Mike Longden was at the farm discussing the benefits of new regenerative agricultural practices being implemented at the peak bogs, called Paludiculture and carbon capturing.
Paludiculture is a system of agriculture for the production of wetland crops under conditions that support the natural landscape and environment.
Speaking to Countryfile, Mike Longden said: “I think farmers understand that things need to change. We need to produce food and a living for the farmer. This is really good for the community and we need to embrace nature and the community element at the same time.”
Farmer, Steve Denneny, who has already implemented the practice on his Runcorn farm, was interviewed, and discussed encouraging the technique across the rest of the peatland. He said: “We can’t make money doing the farming we’ve been doing for the last 35 years, it’s not been viable.
“We need to do something different. it’s good that Wildlife trust have taken [Paludiculture] on and we’re doing the work on here to grow these new crops.”
As well as this, the special discussed how Chat Moss is being used as a ‘carbon capture’ landscape.
Senior Lecturer in Environmental Ecology at Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr. Chris Field explained: “Globally, peatlands are a huge storer of carbon. They only take up about 3-5% of the world’s surface area, but they store around 30% of the world’s surface soil carbon.”
The practice see’s farmers embrace nature and encourage the environment to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Early studies show the practice has been successful in lowering the amount of carbon in the area.
Countryfile’s ‘Wild Britain’ special is available on BBC iPlayer.
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