In the early 21st century the top four peat producers in the world were Finland, Ireland, Belarus, and Sweden.
As the peat producers would be quick to point out, peat in horticulture represents only a small proportion of the product harvested worldwide, but it seems to me that so much of its use in gardens is wholly unnecessary, and we really do have to start somewhere to wean ourselves of our abiding love for this material as a cheap and cheerful growing medium or fuel.
Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis was also detected from 16 of 20 samples of peat intended for bedding (herds A, B, I, and J and peat producers I, II, and III) and in one out of four samples of sawdust (herd A) (Table 1).
Farm B used peat from peat producer II, and identical isolates from pigs and from this peat producer were detected.
This farm received peat from peat producer III, where isolates with the same two profiles were detected (number 2095 with profile M and number 2096 with profile K).
Four porcine isolates from two pigs (numbers 2019, 2020, 2030, and 2031) showed identical MLVA profiles with isolates from peat producer II (number 2086 and number 2091) (profile J).
Additionally, 16 samples of peat intended for bedding were retrieved from three different production facilities (facilities I, II, and III), of which peat producer II delivered peat to farm B and producer III to farm A. Two samples drawn from peat intended as feed supplement for piglets were also examined (facility IV) (Table 1).
In the past 18 months these have included North America's biggest peat-moss producer, a cheque printer, a meat processor, an icemaker, a coffee decaffeinater and, this month, a compiler of telephone directories.
Then germination is arrested as the grains are dried by fires (some producers add peat to the fire, adding that smoky nose many think of as characteristic of Scotch), then fermented, distilled and aged.
In addition, transportation costs have escalated to ship peat affecting profitability for horticulture producers; therefore, the horticulture industry has evaluated alternative substrates to substitute peat for tomato seedling production.
Greenpeace says the industry also contributes to carbon emissions when producers establish plantations on peat bogs, which store carbon.
