But with mismanagement of peatland having the potential to derail the industry’s net zero ambitions, farmers must be given the right tools to do so, says Trinity AgTech’s director of business development, Anna Woodley.

“Peatland is incredibly important for improving the rural economy, domestic food security, and reaching our net zero ambitions,” explains Ms Woodley. “Yet many first-generation carbon calculators do not take peatland into account. Where it does exist, the methodology lacks sophistication and accuracy and bulks peat in the Fens is the same as the Welsh uplands, which it clearly isn’t.

“Farmers cannot be expected to be effective stewards of the land if they are not given the right insights and reliable analytics.”

Ms Woodley explains a new peatland module within next generation natural capital navigator Sandy, has recently been launched to support farmers to credibly and accurately measure their carbon and biodiversity footprints for the very first time.

Developed by a team of scientists and engineers, the system’s foundation is built to accurately capture and reflect the specific features of a farm, including a methodology for categorising peatland that includes 16 combinations of peat type and land use. The latter is aligned with the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory and the Peatland Code and water level management is considered at the field or habitat scale. This thoroughness reduces the number of assumptions made during the calculation; this reduces uncertainty and improves accuracy.

“Farmers want and need to make sure all aspects of their farm are accounted for when doing a full carbon assessment,” she adds. “Some sectors, such as livestock, have been unfairly scrutinised historically, partly due to the inability of existing tools to report in GWP (global warming potential) or take proper account of peatland and soil carbon sequestration.”

“It’s important to use a reliable and credible new generation navigator, to give a true and accurate account of a farm’s characteristics. This is to ensure that the analytics and insights being provided can be relied upon by farmers to make informed decisions which will affect their overall profitability and business resilience. The insights produced must withstand the test of time, which makes it worth investing in,” she adds.

Although peatland is often associated with lowland areas such as the East Anglian Fens, it spans large areas of the UK, including large tracts of upland Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Despite covering only 12% of land mass^[1], peatland is the UK’s largest carbon store, holding more carbon than the forests of the UK, Germany and France combined.

“By arming these farm businesses with trustworthy data and the ability to map out the potential impact of management changes, we’re enabling farmers to maximise their business’ potential, both in terms of profitability and sustainability,” says Ms Woodley.

Sandy is the only new generation natural capital navigator for all farm types, sizes and landscapes. Based on the latest science and technology, Sandy includes modules for measuring, managing, and optimising carbon, biodiversity, agroforestry, nitrogen use efficiency, and water protection.