Wetland Harvest Project
Mowing is a traditional form of management that has been used on the fens for centuries. Today, much of the open fen area continues to be managed in this way, although with more modern techniques!
Conventional harvesting machinery cannot cope with the marshy terrain of the Broads so the Authority developed a low ground pressure machine that was able to cut, collect and remove material from the fens. With funding from the European Union’s LIFE fund, Anglian Water, the RSPB, English Nature and the Ministry of Agriculture (now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), we were able to construct a prototype fen harvester that can negotiate wetland conditions without sinking into the soft surface, and cut large areas of fen, including small pieces of scrub.
The harvested material is chopped into tiny pieces and blown down a high-pressure air-filled pipeline. This means that the material can be removed from fen to lorry without making repeated journeys over fragile habitat.
A variety of trials have been undertaken to find a use for this cut material. The most promising options so far are use as a biofuel, and also as a form of compost for farmed land.
