Farming

Rewetting

our peatlands

Running a family farming business, you would think, would be a straightforward affair. Follow the seasons, grow grass, grow sheep, grow cows, sell them, repeat! This is obviously a large part of what we do but as a result of the farming activity which has taken place on Dartmoor for generations, we have created some pretty special landscapes, full of history, habitat and beauty.

understanding of our natural world has changed, we now know that functioning wet peatlands are great at locking away carbon and slowing water down. SWPP has been awarded a grant to rewet our peat and peatlands all over the South West. The process uses specialist equipment to minimise ground disturbance and create numerous small leaky dams in the drainage channels across the landscape. This slows the fl ow, raises the water table, and allows the sphagnum moss to grow and regenerate the functioning peatbog, thereby trapping carbon, slowing the fl ow of our rivers and allowing peatland habitats to thrive. It is a bit of a leap of faith on our part as we are one of the fi rst farms to rewet part of our land on Dartmoor, but we believe in looking after our natural capital and doing what we can to help mitigate climate change. There is a question over commercial value to For the past 25 years or so we have been able to enhance what we have, through environmental the farm. Currently the money available only covers the mechanics of the project, and we are not yet sure agreements of various incarnations. Across the farm on how it will aff ect our cattle and sheep, and their grazing our various blocks, we are currently involved in eight patterns on a wetter landscape. I am sure the next diff erent projects or environmental agreements, doing all generation of environmental agreement will reward this sorts to enhance and improve things. positive management, assuming Although farming has had a bad press at times for its environmental record, here on Dartmoor I think we have “ Understanding of our natural world has changed; the government has the stability to make decisions about the future of our industry, and the ability done a fair job of working hand-in- we now know that for agricultural policy to fi nd that hand with our environment. There are lots of things we can improve but because it is such a harsh, wet place, at functioning wet peatlands are great at locking away sweet spot between feeding people alongside maintaining a thriving environment and landscape. But that times the only option is to work with carbon and slowing water is a whole other subject! nature. Trying to work against it on a bleak, wet rock just will not work! down. ” Winter sees all the cattle come into the barns to protect them from the One of the bigger projects we are involved with is at Dartmoor weather. Let’s hope we have enough feed to Dartmoor Prison farm in partnership with the Duchy see us through. Cutting out the use of artifi cial fertilizer estate and South West Peatland Partnership (SWPP). saved us money this year, but our harvest was down as a Over the past year, we have been rewetting about result, and not helped by the dry summer. We will have 200 hectares of peat. In the past, peat on this site was to be careful and manage what is available as best we drained and harvested as fuel for the prison and the can! local community, and the land was dried out to grow I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and more edible forage. Our ancestors made use of a prosperous new year, from all at Greenwell Farm! n valuable resource available to them at the time, but as Mat Cole, Greenwell Farm