UK Nature and Environment

The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside has received a share of £3.5million from Co-op and their charity, the Co-op Foundation, to continue a pioneering wetter farming trial in Greater Manchester.

Rindle Field in Chat Moss near Salford was once a waterlogged field containing an unprofitable crop of potatoes, now it is home to celery, lettuce and blueberries all grown as part of a climate friendly wetter farming trial. And now new funding of nearly £150,000 from the Carbon Innovation Fund – a Co-op and Co-op Foundation partnership - will see the trial continued into the future.

Wetter farming, also known as paludiculture, is the practice of restoring the naturally higher water table on fields which have been previously drained (often from lowland peatlands). Draining the water from naturally wet and boggy peatlands to convert them to traditional farmland causes the release of large amounts of carbon from the land, however by re-wetting these areas the carbon is locked back underground and these harmful emissions can be significantly reduced. Farmers can then grow crops which thrive in these wetter conditions, allowing the land to remain productive and profitable.