Our Roadmap to 2030Researchers from Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience working with industry partners Riverford Organic Farmers and Delfland Nurseries conducted a collaborative, Innovate UK-funded project to explore the potential for peat-free growing media.
The team looked at producing ‘pressed blocks’ that are widely used for the production of transplanted seedlings used in field vegetable and salad production. A wide variety of materials (including composts, digestates, wood fibres, clays and gums) were characterised and blended to produce media tested under commercial conditions. This showed that production of peat-free alternatives to peat-based blocking media is feasible, using ingredients that are more sustainable than peat, whose extraction exacerbates climate change, destroys habitats and increases flood risk.
There has been extensive interest in the findings, and the team is currently working with a growing media producer to commercialise a product.
