Horticultural wholesalers, nurseries, and the wider retail sector in Scotland are being encouraged to have their say on what is needed to see a successful transition to a peat-free industry.
A new Scottish Government commissioned investigation and consultation, headed-up by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), is aimed at understanding what action industry and the government must undertake to take forward real change.
Principal investigator on the project is Robyn Macdonald, a Senior Horticulturist at the botanic garden. She explained: “The transition to peat-free horticulture is seen as a crucial step in protecting peatlands as important habitats for plants and wildlife. Yet, while businesses want to do the right thing for the environment, there remain many concerns about how the transition over to peat free might impact the sector.”
Developed as a six-month post doctorate research project, the aim of the initiative is to work with businesses and organisations across the horticultural industry to develop a better understanding of the various concerns around the peat-free conversion. From that baseline, the challenges will be explored to find realistic solutions. Key stakeholders include growers, producers of growing media, garden centres, horticultural wholesalers and general retailers.
Dr Rosie Everett is post-doctoral researcher at SRUC investigating social, economic and cultural barriers to Scotland’s uptake of nature-based solutions for restoring degraded peatlands. She commented: “Peat bogs are unique environments, not only valuable habitats, they are highly important secret weapons in the fight against climate change. If we are to save our peatlands, we need to understand the challenges to transition and work together on solutions.”
Integral to the information gathering process will be two day-long workshops in Edinburgh, tomorrow (December 9) and January 15. With the study falling into line with similar initiatives across the UK and devolved administrations, it is part of a concerted effort to understand and resolve the barriers to protecting globally important habitats.
Scottish Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie MSP said: “This research, commissioned by the Scottish Government through CXC, will help us understand the changes industry must make to stop using peat in horticulture and how supporting such change will help to protect precious peatlands and secure their important role in the fight against climate change.”
Robyn Macdonald concluded: “We want this process, as far as possible, to be an optimistic exercise, an opportunity for the Scottish horticultural industry to inform forthcoming policy regarding the phasing out of peat. It can provide new insight into why the uptake of peat-free growing is not moving forward. It is an opportunity for us to develop a better understanding of what kind of assurances stakeholders need to help meet targets.”