Are we on track to stop using peat in horticulture?
An excellent RHS report provides detailed insight into the progress being made by the professional horticultural sector in the transition from peat to more sustainable alternatives.
The report provides further justification backing the approach being taken by Enrich the Earth to hasten the shift to sustainable peat alternatives. Our Founder, Trewin Restorick, breaks down the report below:
The Move away from peat is happening
The RHS report indicates that just under half of the horticultural businesses surveyed are growing peat free and that the volume of peat based growing materials used by respondents is down to 11%. Peat-free is now the predominant choice in a range of plant types including aquatic plants, herbs, bulbs, cacti/succulents and alpines.
The main replacement materials being used are bark, wood fibre and composted green waste. Those who have shifted from peat have noticed a range of benefits including plants having well established roots systems, the need for less growing media and improvement of some disease control.
But not everyone is convinced
The RHS survey achieved a 50% response rate, so only gives us half the picture. It is likely that those who responded are the most engaged, meaning the survey probably presents an overly positive indication of the speed of change.
Of those who did respond, 40% couldn’t say when they would be able to go peat free as it depended upon a range of external factors. These external factors included the availability of suitable alternative materials, costs, international supply chains and clarity on government legislation.
The stumbling blocks
The major challenge the professional horticultural sector faces is finding viable peat alternatives for growing young and plug plants. Of those companies who responded to the survey, 74% source young or plug plants from external suppliers, many of whom are international and grow in peat.
Most respondents to the RHS survey have not asked their suppliers to provide them with 100% peat-free plug or young plants; largely because they either thought that they were too small to have any influence, or that they didn’t feel there was sufficient market demand.
Clearly more needs to be done to encourage international suppliers to shift to peat free production. This can be achieved either from legislative pressure in their country or through buyers becoming more stringent in their requirements.
Government legislation is essential
Clarity on government legislation is essential for the professional horticulture sector, particularly around the expected timescale for the industry to phase out peat. This dictates the speed of change. This clarity needs to be consistent across all the devolved governments to reduce complexity and ensure there are no market distortions.
In addition to the need for over-arching legislation, there are other blockers hindering the transition. For example, the subsidies provided to energy companies for using wood chip are not available to the professional horticultural sector, making access to this material difficult and expensive.
Support is needed during periods of transition
The RHS research estimated that the additional cost for moving from peat to peat free was between 15 – 25%. This is inevitable as businesses need to introduce new systems, secure replacement materials and learn how to build efficiencies.
The government can do more to hasten the transition to peat-free and to minimise the cost impact to the sector. Our recommendation is to provide short-term transitional funding and remove some of the blocks that are making suitable replacement materials more expensive.
The professional horticultural sector can also help itself by better sharing technical information, making the most use of the compostable materials that they currently produce and by uniting to encourage suppliers and government to support the transition. For instance, the RHS report estimated that 128 businesses who have in-house composting facilities could collectively generate a significant amount of green waste for re-use within their businesses and the wider sector.
What next?
The report indicates that the professional horticultural sector is slowly moving towards becoming peat free, but this change is not across the board and there are fundamental issues that need to be addressed.
The Enrich the Earth partnership is seeking to address the systemic barriers by helping to develop more sustainable peat alternatives, reducing contamination in green/food waste, promoting a composting revolution across the nation and highlighting legislative blocks.
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