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Newsletter Agri Environment and Paludiculture January & February 2026


ARPAS UK Webinar Recap 22 Jan 2026

Members of ARPAS UK interested in the fast growing agri and environment drone sector were treated to a detailed and practical account of the challenges and early successes of drone seeding for paludiculture in the UK on 22 January 2026.

The webinar featured Mike Longden of Lancashire Wildlife Trust, who described his involvement in the launch of the paludiculture agricultural industry in the UK. His presentation focused on bridging the gap between conservation and agriculture on peatland landscapes and creating an income stream for farmers while supporting sustainable peatland management.

A discussion with Mike and other invited guests followed, hosted by Jo Bellett, Chair of the ARPAS UK Agri Environment SIG. The panel explored how land managers and operators can move from pilot activity to repeatable operations, including planning, permissions, site constraints, timing windows, payload delivery, and the practical realities of operating in sensitive landscapes.

The webinar is recorded and open to everyone to watch on catch up.


LAMMA 2026 14 to 15 Jan 2026

NEC Birmingham

Visitors of all ages attended LAMMA, the annual machinery show for the farming industry. A highlight this year was the growing visibility of large drones for heavy lift applications, which are opening up opportunities in paludiculture by delivering substantial seed payloads using gel based approaches and supporting seeding over rewetted peat that is difficult or impossible to access with conventional farm machinery.

The paludiculture stand at the show demonstrated how protecting carbon in the soil can be financially rewarding. Heavy lift drones have the potential to support seeding and fertilising at speed and, subject to approvals, may also support targeted crop protection in future. For innovative farmers, these tools could reduce ground impact, cut costs, and save time during critical seasonal windows.


Next Steps for Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration in England

Westminster Online Conference 12 Jan 2026

A Westminster Online Conference looked at progress and opportunities for nature recovery and land use change in England. Natural England described the Nature Restoration Fund and a proposed Environmental Delivery Plan approach intended to encourage private investment in conserved land through a developer levy, alongside the current Biodiversity Net Gain scheme.

A notable gap was that paludiculture and its opportunity to fund farmers transitioning to sustainable peatland farming was not included in the event’s core framing. As the sector matures, it will be important that policy and finance mechanisms support models that keep farmers economically engaged while delivering landscape scale restoration outcomes.


Bigger picture from drone seeding to scalable harvesting


A short video from Chat Moss captures how paludiculture can become a joined up system from establishment through to harvest. Typha was planted using a drone because it can operate over wet peat safely and precisely, assessing and treating areas that would be difficult to reach with heavy machinery without causing damage. Once established, specialist machinery can be used to harvest the crop and remove the biomass efficiently while keeping ground impact low. Taken together, this represents an integrated end to end operational model. It uses drone enabled establishment on rewetted peat, followed by purpose designed low impact harvesting. This combination strengthens the case for paludiculture both environmentally, by protecting peat structure and stored carbon, and commercially, by enabling repeatable scalable operations beyond small trial plots.

Video Bulrush harvesting day at our wetter farming trial on Chat Moss




Thanks for reading :)

 
 
 

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