Improving conditions for agricultural management of drained peatlands while reducing GHG emissions (PEATIMPROVE) is a 4 year interdisciplinary project. Peatlands used for agriculture emit greenhouse gases (GHG), are poorly drained and easily waterlogged leading to poor trafficability and lost yield and yield quality. Novel management approaches for existing shallow peatlands in Norway are urgently needed to limit GHG emission and to sustain forage based agricultural activity in rural Norway, where peatlands are important for farming.

The maingoal of the project
PEATIMPROVE will study different drainage options and “peat inversion” in particular as a promising management option for protecting peat from degradation while allowing for effective forage production. The focus will be on alternatives for already drained peat soil in need for renewal, but the research will also aim to answer more general challenges with agriculture on peat soil. We will set up a series of sites to study soil properties, soil physics, hydrology, forage production potential, GHG emissions and carbon balances. The selected sites are representative for the regions where forage production on peat soil is common representing climatically different conditions.

The studies outline controlling factors and links between plants, soil hydrology and GHG emissions. PEATIMPROVE seeks to estimate the suitable area for peat inversion in Norway by synthesizing different public available data from soil mapping. We will integrate the results using spatial data, modelling, databases and stakeholder surveys for upscaling and generalization to assess drainage potential, climate change effects, costs and benefits of “peat inversion” and the potential for GHG mitigation.

Dissemination of the results
The results are communicated professionally throughout the project. NORSØK's role in this project is to compile results from long-term measurements of emissions of the greenhouse gases nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) with and without peat inversion in Fræna.