Putting Paludiculture into Practice – Experiences from field-scale Cattail paludiculture in NE Germany

Paludiculture is the productive use of wet peatlands. In contrast to drained peatlands, rewetted peatlands have water levels close to surface, which ensure regulating services similar to those in natural peatland ecosystems. The cultivation of wetland plants provides promising options for sustainable farming on peatland. However, practical experiences with paludiculture is scarce and large-scale implementation remains challenging.

The Paludi-PRIMA project (2019-2022) puts paludiculture into practice. A core task is the establishment and investigation of a Cattail field of ~10 ha on a rewetted, formerly drained fen grassland. We gained valuable experiences on site selection, planning and approval processes (water and nature conservation law) and construction work (site preparation, water management). We planted commercially grown seedlings of two species (T. latifolia, T. angustifolia) with two planting densities (0.5 and 1 plant m^-2) using planting machines from forestry. Cattail is adapted to water-saturated soils, enables peat conservation and has a high value creation potential based on the material use of the biomass. Cost data of all implementation steps from site selection to harvest are collected to assess the economic viability in dependence of biomass quality and utilisation options. The field trial is also used for investigations on water demand, nutrient retention and biodiversity, and as a demonstration site for visitors. Mesocosm experiments with Cattail and Reed clones as well as genetic analyses investigate to which extend productivity and biomass quality are determined by species/genotypes, site conditions and management.

Barriers to the implementation of paludiculture are mainly related to the current EU Common Agriculture Policy, the protection of permanent grassland, the consideration of Cattail or Reed stands as protected habitat and the high investment costs. Lessons learned and research results are used to elaborate recommendations for farmers, authorities and policy makers in order to facilitate a large-scale implementation of paludiculture.

Further information: www.moorwissen.de/en/prima