“We must get out more” – Gene editing debate highlights the need for livestock scientists and specifically breeders to talk more openly

Dr Craig Lewis

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The Genetic Technology Bill currently before Parliament could unlock the potentially paradigm shifting impacts of gene editing for farmed animals, and would give livestock agriculture the potential to address major challenges of animal health and welfare, reduce antibiotic use, ease management, and improve sustainability, says livestock breeder Dr Craig Lewis. But as Peers prepare to debate proposed changes to the Bill, he warns that outdated and inaccurate perceptions of modern livestock breeding and production could lead to unwarranted regulatory barriers to these advances. In response, he says livestock farmers, scientists and breeders must redouble their efforts to connect, communicate, and explain the positive contribution of genetic innovation to animal health, welfare and the environment.     

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Precision Breeding Bill: Peers’ GM 2.0 style plans could put genome editing out of reach for smaller breeders

Robin Wood, Elsoms Seeds

Elsoms Seeds is an independent, family-owned UK plant breeding company which recently celebrated its 175th anniversary. Deputy Chairman Robin Wood notes that Brexit dividends have so far been ‘thin on the ground’ for Britain’s plant breeders, and that leaving the EU has meant increased costs, delays, bureaucracy and business uncertainty for the seeds sector while operating in a much smaller market-place. Against this background, he describes the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill as a ‘beacon of hope’ with the potential to boost prospects for UK-based breeding investment and innovation. But as Peers prepare to debate the Bill at Report Stage, he warns that amendments seeking to add GM 2.0 style requirements to the face of the Bill, without scientific justification, could put these promising new technologies out of reach for independent SME breeding companies like his.    

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Feeding 8 billion people has never been easier

Bill Wirtz

Brussels-based policy analyst Bill Wirtz argues that technological progress and innovation can help us create a world of more abundant food, and that agricultural efficiency will continue to improve insofar as we allow scientists, plant breeders and farmers to fully deploy their knowledge and skill in a way that benefits consumers and the environment alike.

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Land sparing policies can deliver biodiversity and climate targets at less cost to food production and at half the cost to taxpayers

Andrew Balmford and Lydia Collas     

A study recently published in the journal People and Nature by researchers at the Universities of Cambridge, Leeds and Glasgow is the first of its kind to compare the taxpayer costs of different farm policy approaches to meeting future biodiversity and climate objectives. It concludes that a land sparing approach of focusing some land entirely on food production to allow more space for nature on unfarmed land would be far more cost-effective than prolonging the current land sharing approach of paying farmers to adopt lower-yielding production systems. To achieve the same overall outcomes, sharing will cost twice as much and see loss of 27% more food production, while potentially also increasing environmental damage in food-exporting countries and reducing the space available for wild species that cannot live on farmed land. The study's findings should inform a rethink of the funding and direction of England’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMs), argue two of the study’s authors, conservation scientists Andrew Balmford and Lydia Collas.  

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Precision Breeding Bill could supercharge investment in UK crop innovation

Professor Mario Caccamo

Legislation to be debated by Peers in the House of Lords over the coming weeks could help unlock the UK’s global leadership in plant genetic science, and encourage additional investment in research to help address the most pressing agricultural challenges of today. According to Professor Mario Caccamo, CEO of UK crop science organisation NIAB, precision breeding techniques such as gene editing will help accelerate the development of crops that are higher yielding, more nutritious, more resilient to climate change and less reliant on pesticides or fertilisers. But he warns that attempts to add more layers of scientifically unjustified precaution to the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill could blunt Britain’s gene editing revolution.    

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UK plant breeders support transparency on precision breeding techniques 

Nigel Moore

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As members of the House of Lords prepare to debate amendments tabled in advance of the Grand Committee stage of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, there will be calls on Government to enforce statutory labelling of food and feed produced from precision bred organisms. But such a requirement would not only contradict the underlying rationale for the Bill that precision-bred products could equally have occurred naturally or through conventional breeding, it would also drive up costs to consumers and would, in practice, be unenforceable through testing, writes plant breeder Nigel Moore. 

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In farmed animals, gene editing could be a game-changer for disease control, animal welfare and the environment

Lord Trees

Veterinarian Professor the Lord Trees explains his support for the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill and its potential to deliver positive outcomes for disease control, animal welfare and environmental impact. And he points out that existing laws governing animal welfare, both in research and in agriculture, if properly enforced, should reassure those who have welfare concerns.

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Wringing your hands or getting the ball rolling? Two approaches to decarbonising agriculture

Dr Julian Little

Science communicator Dr Julian Little examines two contrasting approaches taken by leading food businesses to promote more sustainable agriculture and food production – the apparently “unscalable” regenerative agriculture, and sustainable intensification. Which approach is most likely to deliver the necessary increases in global food production while at the same time reducing agriculture’s footprint, delivering net zero and leaving room for nature? And are they in conflict?

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ELMS review is an opportunity to put scientific evidence and data at the heart of farm policy

Julian Sturdy MP

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It is absolutely right that the Government should be reviewing policies which would set our farming industry on a trajectory towards lower-yielding production systems and even re-wilding of productive farmland.         

To deliver the best outcomes for food security, the environment and the climate, Defra Ministers must restore the strategic policy focus on sustainable intensification in UK agriculture, underpinned by science-based metrics, and with a clear focus on genetic innovation as the main driver of agricultural productivity.   

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Gene editing - three simple questions for ScotGov

Finlay Carson MSP

Speaking in a member’s question debate on gene editing at Holyrood earlier this week, Finlay Carson MSP, convenor of the Rural Affairs Committee, urged ScotGov to introduce simplified rules for experimental research to ensure Scottish research is not left behind. He called on Ministers to acknowledge the positive signals emerging from the EU regarding the benefits of precision breeding for more sustainable, climate resilient agriculture, and the rapid progress towards regulatory reform in Brussels. And he highlighted ScotGov’s own consumer research showing that two in three Scots would be willing to try gene edited foods as a good basis to embrace the potential of a technology with so much promise for Scotland’s world-leading scientific, farming, and food and drink sectors. 

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The unnatural nature of food (Part 3)

Matt Ridley

In the third part of his investigation into the concept of ‘naturalness’ in food and farming, science writer Matt Ridley discovers more about how human beings have tampered with nature in search of food for a very long time. From breeding improved strains of crops and livestock to the very act of cooking itself, he argues that the more scientific and artificial our food system becomes, the more likely it is to sustain both humankind and the natural environment.

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Mandatory labelling of crop biotech-derived foods:  the evidence shows this is a failed regulatory policy

Graham Brookes

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Proponents of mandatory labelling of foods containing or derived from genetically modified (GM) crops have long claimed that their primary objective is to facilitate informed consumer choice.  Based on a review of more than 20 years of evidence in countries or regions where mandatory GM labelling has been implemented, that policy has failed.  The main outcomes have been increased food industry costs across the supply chain, higher prices and reduced choice for consumers.  In contrast, in cases where labelling is voluntary, consumers and taxpayers have had more food choices with lower costs, writes agricultural economist Graham Brookes.

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We must consider the ethical implications of not embracing genome editing in farmed animals

Professor Helen Sang OBE FRSE FRSB

As the bird flu outbreak worsens in the British poultry flock, prompting further housing and biosecurity orders after the virus over-summered in the UK for the first time, it is distressing that animal welfare charities such as the RSPCA are campaigning against the use of genetic technologies, such as genome editing, which offer potential solutions.

And when the Covid pandemic, which has now claimed more than 6 million lives globally, is thought to have originated in animal to human transfer, it is concerning that ethical discussions about the use of genome editing in farmed animals appear to centre more on opposition to livestock agriculture than on the technologies themselves, writes animal geneticist Professor Helen Sang.

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ScotGov must adopt a more science-based approach on gene editing

Samantha Brooke

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Responding to the recent ScotGov consultation on a future Agriculture Bill for Scotland, Samantha Brooke explains that while plant breeders applaud the document’s explicit focus on the importance of conserving plant genetic resources, Ministers must recognise the value of new breeding technologies, such as gene editing, in unlocking their potential. 

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Livestock breeding and sustainability

Professor Geoff Simm

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Genetic improvement of farm livestock productivity is a key factor in ensuring the availability and affordability of highly nutritious food, increased food security, and improved resource-use efficiency. Improved scientific understanding in recent decades is supporting more sustainable breeding programmes that better balance the emphasis on productivity and animal health and welfare, that address environmental impacts, and promote sustainable use of farm animal genetic resources, writes Professor Geoff Simm, Director of the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems at the University of Edinburgh.

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Are anti-science campaigners trying to mislead over Precision Breeding?

Professor Tina Barsby OBE

MPs and Lords are preparing to debate the remaining stages of the Precision Breeding Bill at Westminster. While a handful of environmental and organic NGOs maintain their opposition to the Bill, the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence supports the safety and value of these advanced breeding techniques. Faced with urgent challenges over food security and climate change, even the European Union is now moving at pace to update its legislation to enable the use of modern breeding methods such as gene editing, writes plant scientist Professor Tina Barsby. 

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Pro-science think-tank urges Defra to put evidence and data at the heart of farm policy review

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To deliver the best outcomes for food security, the environment and the climate, Science for Sustainable Agriculture is urging Defra Ministers to restore the strategic policy focus on sustainable intensification in UK agriculture, underpinned by science-based metrics, and with a clear focus on genetic innovation as the main driver of agricultural productivity.   

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The unnatural nature of food (Part 2)

Matt Ridley

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Science writer Matt Ridley continues to explore the concept of ‘naturalness’ in food and farming, arguing that our obsession with food being natural is getting in the way of our food being plentiful, affordable, healthy and good for nature. He suggests that the more concentrated and productive we make our farming systems, the better it is for nature by using less land, less water and fewer natural resources.

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We must look to scientific innovation in agriculture to deliver Net Zero

Julian Sturdy MP

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Launching an APPG inquiry into the technologies, innovations and practices which can help Britain's farmers deliver on the UK's net zero commitments, Julian Sturdy MP argues that action on climate change must look to science and innovation rather than arbitrary targets or restrictions on economic activity.   

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Innovation can support the goals of regenerative agriculture – but are technologies like gene editing in or out?

Professor Johnathan Napier

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Genetic technologies can help deliver the objectives of regenerative agriculture, says UK plant scientist Professor Johnathan Napier. But will they be allowed to, he asks.

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