CarbonHarvest
Reimagining your land as a carbon farm
Challenge
Emissions from drained peatland are estimated at 1.9 gigatonnes, contributing to 5% of GAG emissions annually. This is despite drained peatland only accounting for 0.3% total agricultural land. However, this is land is a farmer’s livelihood. If they rewet their land, it seems there’s no future for them.
Approach
This was an incredibly complex problem to solve, with multiple stakeholders involved. It was important for me from the outset to garner a thorough understanding of the current situation through interviewing farmers, horticulturalists and representatives from government bodies. It was also key for me to engage with farming trends and scientific journals to fully understand crop possibilities (financial gain) after land restoration.
I then set about sketching and iterating multiple solutions and flows, testing with users and experts along the way.
Solution
CarbonHarvest is an application that allows farmers on drained peatland to collectively reimagine their land’s possibilities - allowing farmers to dynamically raise their land’s water table and understand new crop possibilities. Connecting them to communities of like-minded individuals, pioneers and important climate bodies. This tool helps take farmers from an anxious mindset full of uncertainty to a place where action becomes possible - starting conversations and co-creating future methods together.
Context & Brief
RSA Student Design Awards Apply AI
Top 10 finalist
Timeline
12 Weeks
Year
2023
Skills
Research, sketching, wireframing, UI, testing
“If we’re serious about tackling climate change then we’ve gotta get started restoring peatland.”
Why restore your peatland?
Bogs are the largest carbon sinks in the world, storing millions of years of organic matter within their waterlogged soil. They are excellent at naturally managing floods - acting as a sponge.
Why raise your water table?
When the water table is lowered by what would typically be the digging of ditches or ‘dredges’, aerobic bacteria interact with the organic matter in the soil and produce large quantities of carbon dioxide. This means that even if the drained land is left idle, it is still releasing an overwhelming quantity of CO2 into the atmosphere. Raising the water table allows for carbon sequestered in the soil to remain in the soil.
Rewetting just X% of peatland used for agriculture will save up to Y% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions
Why don’t farmers restore their land?
“Listen, if what I’m doing can help the environment and supply me with income I’m all for it - I don’t want to be that guy. At the end of the day though, I have a family.”
- Cormac Finnegan, Mixed Farmer
“These government bodies don’t know what’s going on. If I rewet, what do I give my kids? A bog?”
- Tom Kelly, Tillage Farmer
“I wouldn’t know anything about farming on peatland now. Historically we would have been told the opposite.”
- Liam Jennings, Mixed Farmer
“Farmers are a conservative group, it takes a strong argument to get them to listen.”
- Mary Harty, Horticulturalist
Key Insights
There is no alternative business model once peatland is restored
Farmers are skeptical of the benefits behind peatland restoration
Lack of Knowledge on growing crops on wet soils
Concept Development
I knew that I had to connect farmers to usable data that allowed them to reimagine their land and so I set about how it could visually look - how they could dynamically change their land and be convinced by the possibilities.
By jumping into sketching early I was easily able to get my ideas out. I followed this up with rapid paper prototyping so that I could take my design to users and learn, constantly iterating on my design.
How might I…
provide farmers with access to alternative, carbon friendly solutions for their land whilst maintaining farm viability?
help farmers understand and feel comfortable in engaging with wetland crops?
increase the level of participation in farmers on restoring their peatland?
Sketching & Ideation
By jumping into sketching early I was able to easily get my ideas out. I knew that I had to connect farmers to usable data that allowed them to reimagine their land and so I set about how it could visually look - how they could dynamically change their land and be convinced by the possibilities.
I needed to establish a metaphor with components that were both intuitive and informative.
Site Map
Due to the complexity of the project and how I wanted the specific features to interact and dynamically shape each other, I found it very helpful to put down exactly where I wanted each page to be accessed from.
Final Designs
How it works
Soil maps can be used to reliably frame what percentage of a farmers soil consists of drained peatland and whether neighbouring soils can benefit too.
Google flood data can pinpoint whether the farmer’s land is at risk of future flooding.
Satellite imagery layered over soil maps allows farmers accurately record farm’s location.
Soil Charts Legend
Soil Mapping
Google Flood
Satellite Imagery
Land Analysis
Inputting your farm’s location and answering the questionnaire allows CarbonHarvest to form a playful yet informative generative AI land extrusion. It highlights key details such as amount of peatland present on the farm, water table level and current carbon emissions. Farmers can dive into how their land used to be to understand their legacy - they can also understand their projected land outcome and begin to take steps to intervene and save their livelihood.
Water Table Meter
Dragging the water meter up and down allows farmers to understand the effects of different water table heights on the land - the amount of carbon they can sequester, the amount of carbon credits they can earn in real time as well as the new crops they can grow.
Crop Guide
They can engage with the dynamically changing specific crop guide, understanding the principles and equipment/machinery required by cycling through intuitive tabs. They are also connected with pioneers who have successful carbon farms with this crop type in their area.
Community & Pioneers
Joining a variety of group and pioneer chats based on your farms needs allows farmers to collaborate and grow towards a better future together. Experts/Pioneers will be present within individual crop group chats as well as personal messaging to assist farmers in discovering the best farming methods for their new water table level.
What farmers said
“Tom down the road would absolutely love this, I must give him a call”
- Jake, Tillage Farmer
“I feel like I have an understanding without having to read a word.”
- Cormac, Mixed Farmer
“This could make a real change - we’d all do it if we knew we’d secure our income.”
- Michael, Mixed Farmer
Benefits, Implementation & Sustainability
The objective of CarbonHarvest is to allow farmers to reimagine their future post peatland restoration - empowering them to thrive and co-create a more carbon friendly world whilst preserving their legacy. By creating an application that assists farmers in repurposing and diversifying their crops, emissions will be reduced while the land will be restored to a more natural state. Supporting farmers and guiding them through community with actionable steps, we can lighten their burden - ensuring carbon emissions are reduced, climate targets are hit and farmers are fulfilled.
Success would be measured by both an increase in the uptake of users on the application as well as an increase in the amount of peatland restored - they will begin to challenge conventional methods of agriculture, moving towards a more sustainable, future-oriented model. CarbonHarvest attempts to empower farmers to push towards a better future in an ever-changing world.
By engaging in carbon farming on peatland we not only prevent future effects of global warming - we also bolster our ability to deal with those changes through utilising the land as it was meant to be. As a society we may begin to reconsider our relationship with traditional crops and our use of materials by now utilising wetland adapted crops. These crops could start to form the basis of our lives in a more natural, sustainable way.