Growing Media Companies on the Current and Future State of Peat
November 6, 2025 The right growing media can make or break your greenhouse crop. Beyond achieving reliable performance, growers today must also navigate sourcing challenges, material availability, and shifting expectations around sustainability.
We reached out to growing media suppliers to get their perspective on many of these concerns. In this Part 1 of a series of articles, we look at the current and future state of peat supplies.
Josh Peoples, Sun Gro: “The immediate state of peat supply is strong, at least coming out of the Canadian bogs. As you look more globally, there have been some constraints, especially when it comes to weather in Europe. In the short term, as always happens, there’s ebbs and flows across the globe that occur, but at least within North America, it’s been strong this year. I think as we look to the future, it’s likely going to be a pretty consistent supply curve. Obviously there will be weather variability within the provinces, but we see a pretty consistent outlook, with a strong harvest that we’ve had so far this year.”
Jennifer Neujahr, Senior Director, Global Business Development Horticulture, Profile Products LLC: “The Canadian 2025 harvest was strong, but globally the picture is very different. Europe is down 40% to 50% overall, with white peat at only 25% to 35% of normal volumes. The industry outside North America is scrambling for raw materials.
Poor weather in the Baltics, critical production regions outside the U.S., has created historic lows. According to Wageningen University, the global substrate market is growing 4% to 6% annually while production in some regions is down by half.
Canadian peat is already being diverted to Europe and Asia. That will eventually tighten North American supply, particularly for buyers who haven’t already secured orders.
There is one critical question the industry must consider: What happens when we confuse a short-term surplus (Canada’s good harvest) with long-term security?”
Søren Møller Nielsen, Sales Director Americas, Pindstrup: “The peat supply out of Europe is under pressure because of a poor harvest and a lot of rain during our harvesting season. Trying to have enough raw material, as well as sourcing alternatives to be added, will be a high priority. I think a lot of European peat companies have been actively utilizing alternatives for a long time, and wood fiber is certainly one of them. I think wood fiber is going to play an even more important role this coming season.”
Vijay Rapaka, Ph.D., Director of Global Grower Operations and Research, Smithers-Oasis/Oasis Grower Solutions: “I’ve recently been traveling through the Southeast, and I’m hearing there’s no shortage of peat and no shortage of interest in peat. However, the last few months, I’ve heard there is a special interest in the peat that is coming from Europe — Scandinavia, in particular — going into next year.
Interestingly, some people went in all in on coco coir. It’s sustainable, natural, and readily available. But then people started really digging into the carbon footprint that is associated with coco, bringing it all in from Asia and other factors, then people started thinking that it might be better to use peat than coco.
In Europe, the trend is to move beyond peat and coco. But in North America, despite some concerns about sustainability and availability, I think the demand for peat will continue.”
Frederic Gagnon, Agronomist, Lambert Peat Moss: “We had a slow start in spring, but a good second half, and there’s good inventory now. It’s been difficult in the Baltics sure, but it’s been good on our side of the world. A good preservation of bogs hopefully means a strong food supply for decades.”
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