Dr. Florence Renou-Wilson:

We call them wet crops. I could go through the species but perhaps the Deputy is more interested in knowing what we can do with them. The crops that are currently used are ones that can be burned in a local biomass thermal power station. The farmers feed this biomass into their heat power station. It could be cattail or reeds - things that grow everywhere in wet bogs. Farmers harvest these crops in a way that is sustainable. The peat is never impacted. Carbon is still accumulating in the roots of the plants. It has never been ploughed or cut dry. The farmer just cuts the biomass, which grows again each year, and uses that to achieve an economic outcome. Obviously, one can just re-wet and let the bog return to nature, which also has significant benefits. Farmers should be paid to bring about those benefits.