S.A. Käärmelahti (Sannimari)

Sphagnum farming

The agricultural use of drained peatlands leads to huge emissions of greenhouse gases and nutrients. A land-use alternative that allows rewetting of drained peatland, while maintaining agricultural production is the cultivation of Sphagnum biomass as a renewable substitute for fossil peat in horticultural growing media (named Sphagnum farming).

I am mainly involved in research that focuses on optimising the conditions for Sphagnum farming. We are, for example, testing different hydrological conditions, different amounts of topsoil removal, optimising water quality, reducing emissions and observing differences between Sphagnum species in a 20-hectare experimental field site in northwest Germany.

Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural peat meadows

Alongside this I am taking part in project NOBV (Nationaal Onderzoeksprogramma Broeikasgassen Veenweiden). Within this research we are trying to tackle the question: What are the effects of various measures against subsidence on greenhouse gas emissions?