The UK’s lowland peatlands — once wetlands, now among the nation’s most productive farmlands — are under mounting pressure. Intensively farmed, rapidly oxidising, and subsiding, these carbon-rich soils in the East Anglian Fens and beyond face a “triple challenge”: climate mitigation, food security, and environmental stewardship.
Over the past four months, Fenland SOIL have collaborated with WWF-UK to tackle this challenge through the production of four complementary papers. Together, these publications offer both a technical foundation and a roadmap for action — grounded in ecological realities, but designed to meet the needs of growers, buyers, and the broader UK food system.
This paper discusses an array of farming practices, which take place or could take place on drained lowland peatlands to progress to a more sustainable future. It provides a comprehensive review of farming practices from across the globe and explores the possibility of applying these cropping systems on lowland peat.
Paper Two: Principles for More Sustainable Cropped Farming on Drained Lowland Peat
This paper sets out a set of five pragmatic, outcome-oriented principles for more sustainable farming within cropping systems on drained lowland peat. The paper provides guidance for farmers, policymakers and food retailers on how to reduce climatic and environmental impacts, while supporting viable agricultural livelihoods on lowland peat.
Paper Three: Managing for a Sustainable Future: Cropping Systems on Drained Lowland Peat
This soil guide highlights steps for farmers to improve the sustainability of their cropping systems on drained lowland peat. It forms part of the WWF-UK’s wider suite of soil health guides for various farming systems. The other soil health guides are available on the WWF-UK website; you can view them here.
This document expresses recommendations tailored to UK food retailers seeking to place principles for more sustainable farming on drained lowland peat into practice.
The UK Climate Change Committee calls for restoring at least 55% of all peatlands by 2040. For those areas that remain under cultivation, change must come from the ground up —and from the top of the chain down.
These four papers underscore the importance of integrating research with supply chain collaboration. Only by doing both can we hope to protect our most fragile soils, meet our climate targets, and future-proof UK food production.
All papers are available via Fenland SOIL’s website and WWF-UK’s website. Stakeholders across farming, retail, and policy are invited to engage, share feedback, and co-develop next steps.
