Peatland & Paludiculture
Peatland: Overview
The short version of what Peatland does and why it exists.
Drained lowland peat and degraded upland peat are the single largest agricultural emissions source per hectare in the UK, and restoration is now among the best-funded land use changes available. This module maps peat depth and condition, models restoration and water table options, manages Peatland Code project registration, and appraises paludiculture as a productive alternative to abandonment.
Detail
Why Peatland exists
Drained lowland peat and degraded upland peat are the single largest agricultural emissions source per hectare in the UK, and restoration is now among the best-funded land use changes available. This module maps peat depth and condition, models restoration and water table options, manages Peatland Code project registration, and appraises paludiculture as a productive alternative to abandonment.
The Climate Change Committee's Balanced Pathway recommends 55 per cent of peatlands restored or re-wetted by 2040, up from 23 per cent in 2023. The Peatland Code has recorded 408 registered projects covering 58,860 hectares and 12.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, with an average unit price of £39.57 in 2025 — although that average is skewed by a small number of large transactions and rests on voluntary disclosure.
Everything Peatland records is written into the same platform data spine as every other module, which is why a single entry can satisfy an operational need, a scheme evidence requirement, an assurance clause and a carbon activity line at once. That is the whole design premise: the work is already being done, and it is the recording of it that is duplicated.
The ground reality
What is actually happening in peatland in the UK
The Climate Change Committee's Balanced Pathway recommends 55 per cent of peatlands restored or re-wetted by 2040, up from 23 per cent in 2023. The Peatland Code has recorded 408 registered projects covering 58,860 hectares and 12.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, with an average unit price of £39.57 in 2025 — although that average is skewed by a small number of large transactions and rests on voluntary disclosure.
Figures are as published at the time of writing. Farm policy and payment rates change frequently — verify against the primary source before relying on any number here.
In the field
Peatland, as it actually looks
Photography from working UK holdings alongside the interface that records it. Every frame below is a commissioned slot: the brief is stated until the photograph is taken.
Peatland — a walkthrough
A working pass through peatland: entering the record once, and watching it appear in the evidence pack, the calendar and the scheme application without being typed again.
- 0:00 What the module is for
- 0:48 Entering the record
- 2:05 Where it appears next
- 3:20 The evidence pack
Photography slots state their own brief until the shot is commissioned, so the layout never shifts when real images arrive.
In practice
Six things Peatland changes on day one
None of these requires a new process. They all come from recording the work you already do, once, in a form the rest of the platform can use.
Peat depth mapping and condition
Peat depth mapping and condition classification.
Emissions estimation by peat type
Emissions estimation by peat type, depth, water table and land use.
Restoration option modelling — grip
Restoration option modelling — grip blocking, gully blocking, re-vegetation and re-wetting.
Water table management planning with
Water table management planning with hydrological constraint mapping.
Peatland Code project registration, validation
Peatland Code project registration, validation and verification tracking.
Paludiculture crop appraisal including sphagnum
Paludiculture crop appraisal including sphagnum, reed, typha and wet grazing.
End to end
How Peatland runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Map peat depth and condition
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Estimate current emissions
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Model restoration and paludiculture options
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Appraise against agricultural margin
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Register the Peatland Code project
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Fund and deliver the works
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Validate and begin monitoring
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Verify and issue units over the project life
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
How we handle evidence
Where these figures come from
Agrivencia grades every figure it publishes. Primary legislation, official statistics and audit reports are treated as authoritative. Levy body and professional body data is treated as reliable. Commercial trackers and trade press are treated as indicative and labelled as such. Where sources conflict, the conflict is shown rather than resolved silently.
- Authoritative Legislation, statutory instruments, official scheme rules, national audit and public accounts reporting, departmental annual reports and accredited official statistics.
- Reliable Parliamentary committee evidence, peer-reviewed research, independent economic institutes and levy body analysis.
- Supporting Professional bodies, land agents, certification schemes and industry associations.
- Indicative Commercial market trackers and trade press, used for corroboration only and always labelled.
Payment rates, caps and windows in UK farm support change frequently and sometimes without notice. Nothing on this platform is a substitute for the current published scheme rules or for professional advice.
Free tool
Run the numbers for your own holding
Enter your figures and get an answer you can act on, with the method shown so you can check it. Save the result to your account or take it away as a PDF.