Meet Julia Kasper, cofounder and CEO of Zukunftmoor, a company rewetting drained peatlands and growing sphagnum moss to transform how we think about agriculture. Their powerful approach reduces greenhouse gas emissions and makes climate-friendly farming possible in peatland regions.
Peatlands, peatlands, peatlands: the biggest climate opportunity in agriculture isn’t cover crops or even silvopasture, but rewetting the humble peatlands. They cover only 3% of the global land surface, yet hold immense amounts of CO2. And when they’re drained- as many are- they release it, not just once, but year after year after year. Like a bathtub with the plug out and the shower still on.
These lands, at least in Europe, are often farmed and not very profitable. But before these farmers risk their livelihoods, we need concrete alternatives to transition. That’s what Julia works on: how to grow something that can replace current agricultural methods on peatlands while rewetting them. And it seems they’ve found a big part of the puzzle: rewetting peatlands and growing sphagnum moss. Currently, when you buy a plant in a shop or when plants are grown in greenhouses, the growing medium contains a lot of extracted peat, which comes with huge emissions and will soon be illegal in Europe. Sphagnum moss can replace this 1-to-1.
It’s still early days, but the signs are promising. We talk about how to rewet a peatland, how to seed it (hint: with drones and by hand), how to harvest — and much more. How do you create enough investor interest to actually build a company?
This episode is made possible by our investment syndicate generation Re, where we invest together with the community in early stage regenerative food and agriculture businesses like Rhizocore. Find out more on www.gen-re.land.
PEATLANDS ARE SO IMPORTANT
While peatlands cover a small percentage of the Earth’s surface, they are critical carbon sinks. Their capacity to store carbon far exceeds that of the world’s forests, making their protection vital for the climate. When drained, many European peat soils emit 40+ tons of CO2 per hectare every year.
“And then you understand that the peatlands only cover 3% of the Earth’s surface, but they store twice the amount of carbon compared to all forests together.” Julia Kasper
HOW TO REWET THEM WITH A BUSINESS MODEL
Simply buying and restoring land is not scalable. To create real change, a new agricultural business model is needed to give farmers an economic incentive to rewet their land instead of continuing with draining practices. Rewetting is the plug, and sphagnum farming is the business model that keeps the plug in. The farm reshapes fields with polders and channels, seeds moss by drone to avoid soil pressure, and manages a multi-year establishment period before moving into annual, low-impact harvests. Then we follow the value chain to the “soil industry,” where peat bans are creating a real, urgent demand for a local, sustainable substitute that performs like peat.
“And that’s why we also quickly understood that you do need an agricultural solution for it, because otherwise it’s, so to say, just restoration, rematuration, which is important, of course, but it will never lead to a real peatland transformation, because there’s no incentive for farmers to change and no real, let’s say, marketable, proven method to change.” Julia Kasper
WHAT IS SPHAGNUM MOSS, AND WHY IS IT SUCH AN IMPORTANT CROP?
Sphagnum moss is presented as the core of the business model. It is a naturally occurring plant in peatlands and is the key ingredient that can replace extracted peat in horticultural substrates, creating a market-driven reason to rewet the land.
“When looking at the peat substitutes, the crop that we cultivate, this is the only material in the world, as far as we know, that can replace the peat in our soils one-on-one.” Julia Kasper
FROM A CLIMATE PERSPECTIVE, REWETTING PEATLANDS IS FUNDAMENTAL
Drained peatlands are not a one-time emissions event but a constant and long-term source of CO2. The oxidation of the peat soil acts like a relentless leak, emitting greenhouse gases for centuries unless the land is rewetted.
“so there’s a constant emission of the CO2… So, for the next 400 years there will be the quiet leakage of CO2, lying on a four-metre bad air mattress constantly emitting.” Julia Kasper
A STARTUP IS NEEDED TO CREATE THIS INDUSTRY
Farmers, who are essential for the transition, are aware of the problem but cannot afford the risk of adopting unproven methods on their own. A startup is needed to pioneer the model, de-risk the process, and create a path from pilot to playbook so more farmers can convert risky, low-margin grassland or maize into climate-positive wet farms with shared equipment and proven practices.
The solution is practical and tactical: buyer letters of intent that validate demand, machinery prototypes for harvesting on soft ground, drying and processing choices that meet substrate specs, and the financing stack that blends equity with high-quality carbon credits to cover upfront rewetting costs. We also face the frictions: permits that lag behind reality, subsidies that still reward drainage, and the patience required from investors to back a transition that delivers both climate impact and durable returns.
“They’re very curious about understanding … And that’s, for us, a perfect scenario because they do have the awareness that they do need to change, but they do not really know how, and of course, they are not the risk takers. We can be as a startup the one who starts something new.” Julia Kasper
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and Julia also talked about:
- sphagnum as a native “natural monoculture” and substrate replacement
- validating demand with industry LOIs and specifications
- lightweight machinery, drones, and on-field logistics
- blended finance with high-quality carbon credits
- regulatory hurdles and the need to end drainage incentives
- investor mindset, patience, and what unlocks scale
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Laimonas Noreika – From FinTech to Farms: bridging the €60B loan gap for Europe’s small farms
- Johannes Scheibe on using carbon credits to transition from understocked and overgrazed to zero input grazing
- Maria Jensen – Giving cows a voice through epigenetics while improving animal welfare and profitability
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.