Reducing Peat Use in Ornamental Plant Production: The Challenge Facing Italy’s Leading Nursery District

The transition towards peatless horticulture is gaining momentum across Europe. While peat has long been a cornerstone of professional growing media, environmental concerns, supply pressures and changing market expectations are accelerating the search for more sustainable alternatives.

Within the PEATLESS project, AVI (Associazione Vivaisti Italiani), in collaboration with CIC (Italian Composting and Biogas Association), is working to support this transition in one of Europe’s most important ornamental plant production regions: the Pistoia nursery district in Tuscany, Italy.

The importance of ornamental plants beyond aesthetics

Ornamental plants are often associated with their visual appeal, but their role extends far beyond aesthetics.

In urban and peri-urban environments, ornamental plants provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including:

• Improving air quality through oxygen production.
• Mitigating urban heat through shading effects.
• Supporting biodiversity and healthier urban environments.
• Enhancing human well-being and urban resilience.

As awareness of environmental sustainability continues to grow, these benefits are becoming increasingly important for cities, communities and consumers alike.

To ensure healthy growth and high-quality production, ornamental plants are cultivated in specialised growing media designed to provide the right balance of water availability, drainage, nutrient retention and root health. For decades, peat has been the preferred material for achieving these characteristics due to its physical, chemical and biological properties.

“The future of ornamental plant production depends not only on finding alternatives to peat, but on ensuring those alternatives meet the technical and quality standards required by professional growers.”

A strategic industry for Italy

The ornamental potted plant sector represents one of the most important segments of Italian horticulture.

Trees, shrubs, hedge plants, climbing plants and topiary forms are among the main products cultivated within the industry. Thanks to a combination of technical expertise, favourable growing conditions and strong international demand, the sector has developed into a strategic economic activity.

Today, the Italian ornamental plant market is estimated to be worth approximately €1.68 billion, with around 70% of production exported and more than 15,000 companies involved in cultivation activities.

At the heart of this industry lies the Pistoia district in Tuscany.

Accounting for approximately 30% of Italy’s ornamental plant production, Pistoia has evolved into the country’s leading ornamental nursery hub. The district is home to more than 1,500 specialised companies and generates approximately €500 million in annual revenue, making it one of the most significant examples of horticultural excellence within the “Made in Italy” economy.

Several factors have contributed to the success of the Pistoia district:

• A highly specialised network of growers and suppliers.
• Strong technical expertise developed over decades.
• A significant export orientation towards international markets.
• Continuous investment in innovation and production quality.

Over time, a highly specialised ecosystem has developed around the sector, bringing together growers, substrate manufacturers, agronomists, technical experts and service providers.

Why reducing peat matters

Despite its agronomic advantages, peat presents significant sustainability challenges.

Globally, around 60 million cubic metres of peat are extracted every year, with approximately 83% of production originating from Europe. This has contributed to the development of a European peat market valued at an estimated €2 billion in 2024.

However, peatlands are among the world’s most important carbon sinks. Their degradation and drainage release substantial amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss.

According to assessments by the United Nations Environment Programme, approximately 50% of peatlands within the European Union are considered degraded, while around 10% have been completely lost through drainage. As a consequence, Europe accounts for approximately 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions originating from peatlands.

At the same time, international demand for peat continues to increase.

During a PEATLESS event held in Pistoia, Prof. Meng Xianmin, Executive Vice President of the Peat Industry Branch of the China Humic Acid Industry Association, highlighted that exports of European peat to China have increased by approximately 40% annually since 2015. Driven by the rapid expansion of horticultural activities in China, demand is expected to continue growing significantly over the coming decades.

These combined environmental and market pressures are creating a complex challenge for growers, who must balance sustainability objectives with the need to maintain reliable and high-performing production systems.

Key pressures currently affecting the sector include:

• Increasing international competition for peat resources.
• Rising concerns about peatland degradation and carbon emissions.
• Greater demand for sustainable products from consumers.
• The need to maintain crop quality and production efficiency.

Growing interest in alternative substrates

Alongside these pressures, consumer expectations are also evolving.

Both professional growers and home gardeners are increasingly interested in products that minimise environmental impact and support more sustainable production methods. As a result, peat-free and reduced-peat growing media are attracting growing attention across the horticultural sector.

Alternative materials such as wood fibre, compost, peat-coir blends and other renewable resources are already being explored. However, identifying solutions capable of consistently delivering the physical, chemical and biological properties required for professional ornamental plant production remains a significant challenge.

The role of AVI within PEATLESS

Founded in 2015 and building on the work of the former Associazione Vivaisti Pistoiesi, AVI represents and supports the ornamental nursery sector in Pistoia and beyond.

Through its participation in research and innovation initiatives, AVI works to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector while providing practical support to growers.

Within PEATLESS, AVI is collaborating with local producers and project partners to evaluate alternative growing media capable of reducing peat use without compromising crop quality or production performance.

The project will focus on experimental trials involving ornamental plants grown in the Pistoia area. These trials will assess locally sourced alternative materials, including compost-based solutions, while excluding coconut-derived substrates in order to prioritise regional resource availability and circular economy principles.

Supporting the transition towards more sustainable growing media

The transition away from peat is not simply a matter of replacing one material with another.

It requires technical innovation, practical validation, market acceptance and collaboration across the entire horticultural value chain.

Through the work being carried out in the Pistoia nursery district, PEATLESS aims to generate the knowledge and evidence needed to support this transition. By testing locally available alternatives and engaging directly with growers, the project seeks to identify substrate solutions that are environmentally responsible, economically viable and capable of meeting the high standards expected by the ornamental plant industry.

As the sector continues to evolve, initiatives such as PEATLESS will play an important role in helping growers adapt to changing environmental, economic and market conditions while maintaining the quality and competitiveness that define European ornamental plant production.