Lowland Agricultural Peat Taskforce

Thérèse Coffey Excerpts

Thursday 29th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

I have today published the lowland agricultural peat taskforce report and Government response. It is available on gov.uk.

Peatlands, when restored and functioning healthily, abate carbon emissions and provide a long-term carbon store, while also delivering wider benefits such as increased biodiversity and improved water quality, drought resilience and flood risk mitigation. Lowland peatlands also provide some of our most valuable agricultural soils and, if managed sustainably, can contribute to food security for years to come.

Degraded lowland peatlands account for 3% of England’s overall greenhouse gas emissions and 88% of all emissions from peat in England. Reducing these emissions by rewetting our peatlands will be vital to the UK’s efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The lowland agriculture peat taskforce was chaired by Robert Caudwell, a farmer and chair of the Association of Drainage Authorities. The taskforce brought together a range of stakeholders—including farmers, water management authorities, conservationists and academics—for the first time to explore how lowland agricultural peat soils can be better managed to protect productive agriculture and contribute to the Government’s legally binding net zero targets. I want to thank Mr Caudwell and the taskforce for their work.

The report culminated in a set of recommendations to the Government and the wider sector that emphasise the importance of water management in the preservation of England’s lowland peat soils. The Government response sets out our intention to take forward action on all 14 of the report’s recommendations, supporting the rewetting of peat soils where appropriate and changing the way we farm on them to ensure the continuation of profitable agriculture.

We have already begun work to address some of the recommendations of the taskforce report. This includes: new funding of over £7.5 million for water management for peat; designing options in the new environmental land management schemes for lowland peat; developing a £6.6 million lowland peatlands research and development programme; launching a £5.6 million paludiculture exploration fund; and developing a new England peat map to be launched in 2024.

[HCWS894]