Mr. Charles Shier:

There are. There is an international group that is active in a number of countries researching growing sphagnum moss, not just harvesting it from bogs. If a bog is preserved, we cannot really go and steal the carbon from the surface of it. Growing sphagnum on a sustainable basis is a Holy Grail of the horticulture industry because if that could be cracked, it would provide a sustainable supply of sphagnum which they regard as the best material for growing plants and particularly for propagation. However, very particular and precise conditions are needed to do it. Sphagnum cannot be cultivated on cutaways because the water table has come down through the years and there is an influence of mineral material in the bottom which sphagnum does not like. It has to be done on a bog that is still very well up to profile and that has acidic water conditions. Then there is the difficulty of balancing between summer and winter. We tried it on a small, pilot scale in Kilberry near Athy. In the winter it was flooded and in the summer it was high and dry. On a small scale, I would say "Yes", but to do it on a big scale over hectares we would have to laser level areas and would need very precise water control. We would also need to stop other things coming in. There are pilot programmes going on in different countries looking at that point.