Transition from peat production to peat-free horticultural and agricultural products

Our goal is to restore and further utilise peatlands that are being phased out of peat production. On the peatlands in Seinäjoki, we are testing water table elevation as well as various plant species that could be cultivated and used as components in growing media to replace peat.

The gradual phase-out of peat production is a necessary part of Finland’s carbon neutrality goals, but it also poses significant economic and social challenges in peat production regions. The project involves developing and testing a production concept in which decommissioned peat production fields are converted into cultivation fields for biomass that can replace growing peat. These biomasses will be processed into growing media products. The primary goal of the project is to create a technically and economically viable and sustainable operating model that would enable current peat producers to transition to producing raw materials that replace peat.

Together with other project partners, we prepare the restoration plan and the experimental design. We perform basic laboratory analyses on baseline samples collected from the test plots as well as on monitoring samples taken during the experiment.

We also conduct greenhouse-scale cultivation trials using alternative growing media produced in the project and analyse their key characteristics, such as water-holding capacity and nutrient content. The results will be utilised, for example, in greenhouse cultivation experiments. In addition, we implement remote soil sensing for the test plots that can be monitored online.

Target group

Peat production companies, landowners of peat production areas, local farmers, companies manufacturing and selling bedding and growing medium products, greenhouse growers, landscapers

Operating area

South Ostrobothnia