Did you know that peat can be 50, 100, 500 or even 1,000 years old? The deeper the soil layer, the older the peat. The more decomposed and homogeneous the peat becomes, the more valuable it is, though that is not always related to its age. In Latvia, high-quality peat can also be found in the upper layers. Gradually decomposing, peat turns into lignite and leonardite, which already resemble petroleum products. It turns out that in the deepest layers of the earth, peat is capable of turning into oil.

Regrettably, it must be clarified that Latvia's climatic conditions do not allow this to happen, as peat here is not sufficiently encapsulated deep underground; therefore, for now, we as a peat superpower have no prospect of becoming an oil superpower and swimming in an intoxicating sea of money...

Peat is different in every country. For example, in Great Britain and Ireland, it more closely resembles lignite and has been used as fuel for centuries. In contrast, Latvian peat is very fertile and is used in horticulture and agriculture. Every plant we buy at a nursery or market sits happily in its peat pot.

Peat is an excellent fertiliser, but in its pure and dry state, it is not effectively usable in agriculture — you cannot, after all, cover 100 hectares of arable land with peat. The wind would just blow it away, the rain would wash it off, and nothing would come of it. Therefore, a young chemical technologist has spent five years and countless experiments finding a way to turn peat into a liquid extract that can be used to spray even the largest fields.