On his return as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, former science minister George Freeman MP explains that a key priority for the Group will be to make agri-science relevant to the new intake of Parliamentarians, and to connect agri-tech innovation with the everyday concerns of constituents, from securing affordable food supplies to tackling climate change, safeguarding clean water supplies, improving health and nutrition, and leaving more room for nature. He previews the launch of ‘Agri-Science Week in Parliament’ early in the New Year, which will provide an opportunity for leading scientists and innovators in digital agriculture, robotics, advanced crop and livestock breeding, vertical farming, automation and AI to explain how UK-led advances can drive significant improvements in the productivity, end-use quality and environmental sustainability of British agriculture.   

 

The scale and pace of global population growth, economic development and the net zero transition are driving unprecedented demand for the agricultural science, technology and innovation needed to produce more food with fewer inputs.

 

This is a huge opportunity for the UK and for British agriculture. We need to seize it. On the world stage, we are an academic agri-science powerhouse. But we need to do more to attract global inward investment, to support farm-level innovation, and for the Government to make clear its support for UK agriculture as a vital strategic industry.

 

That’s why I was delighted to accept the invitation to return as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA), which I chaired as a newly elected MP in 2010.

 

All-Party Groups are vital for specialist advocacy. APPGSTA is one of the more active and influential All-Party Groups in Parliament, no more so than when we successfully advocated the launch in 2014 of the UK Government’s £160m Agri-Tech Strategy, which sought to reverse years of chronic under-investment in translational and applied R&D in agriculture, and to bridge the so-called ‘valley of death’ between discovery science and its commercial, on-farm application.

 

More recently the Group has led the way in calling for more enabling and science-based regulation of gene editing in agriculture, which resulted in the passing into law of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023. We keenly await the introduction of the secondary legislation needed to implement the Act’s provisions for both crops and livestock.  

 

The vision behind the 2014 Agri-Tech Strategy was one of vibrant new public-private partnerships, of forging new ways of working between Government, industry and the science base, and ultimately of driving sustainable growth in domestic agricultural productivity, while attracting inward investment and boosting technology-based exports.

   

Ten years on, it is immensely frustrating and disappointing that the Agri-Tech Strategy has not yet delivered seriously on those objectives.  

 

This latest chart from Defra comparing trends in agricultural productivity growth since 1991 shows the UK literally bumping along at the bottom while our competitors, including other European nations such as France, have enjoyed sustained productivity growth.

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Source: Defra, Sept 2024

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Over the coming period, as chair of the All-Party Group, I am keen to champion and explain why agricultural science and technology is so important to all our futures, particularly to a new generation of voters and a new intake of Labour MPs who may not immediately think of farming innovation as relevant to them or their constituents.

 

We need to be more proactive in demonstrating how these technological advances can help address people’s everyday concerns, from ensuring a secure and affordable food supply for future generations to mitigating and tackling climate change, safeguarding clean water supplies, improving health and nutrition, and leaving more room for nature.

 

And we plan to get off to flying start early in the New Year, with the launch of ‘Agri-Science Week in Parliament’, providing an opportunity for Britain’s cutting-edge scientists and innovators in digital agriculture, robotics, advanced crop and livestock breeding, vertical farming, automation and AI to explain how UK-led advances can drive significant improvements in the productivity, end-use quality and environmental sustainability of British farming.   

 

I am passionate about innovation in agriculture, because a vibrant agri-tech sector is key to UK and global food security, climate change mitigation and net zero. That’s why I am also keen to understand why the Agri-Tech Strategy has not been as transformative as we had hoped.

 

What can we learn from those other countries whose agricultural productivity growth puts ours to shame?

 

Is agricultural science properly valued in the UK? Is our science policy and R&D framework fit for purpose? Is industry sufficiently engaged and listened to in setting the research agenda? Is the transmission from laboratory to field working effectively, and focused on the right priorities? Does our regulatory framework foster or stifle innovation? Is the policy balance right between encouraging productivity and rewarding environmental measures?

 

Above all, I want to understand why, when the UK leads the world in terms of high-impact academic publications in the agriculture-related sciences, we continue to lag behind our competitors in domestic agricultural productivity growth.   

 

I am convinced, for example, that we can learn important lessons from countries such as the Netherlands and New Zealand in how taxpayer-funded R&D is organised and prioritised, and from countries such as Australia, Canada and Brazil in their support for public-private partnerships, and from the United States’ outcomes-based agricultural innovation agenda, with its laser focus on delivering a 40% increase in food production by 2050 while reducing farming’s environmental footprint by 50%.

 

We may be world leaders in academic science, but if we do not as policymakers create an environment in which that research becomes commercially viable and adoptable at farm level, we will end up incubating the rest of the world’s agri-tech sectors and not actually deploying the technologies here.  

 

I am equally convinced that data and metrics are absolutely pivotal to becoming leaders in productive, resource-efficient, net zero agriculture. It is about having the evidence base to measure the impact of our farm policies, to drive improvements at the individual farm level, and to understand the environmental footprint of producing a pint of milk, a bag of potatoes or a loaf of bread. Without such an outcomes-led approach, we may be condemned to follow environmental policies that are rooted in emotion or nostalgia, and not connected to proper science and research.    

 

These and other questions will shape the Group's work in helping to support and unlock the enormous potential of UK-based agricultural science and innovation.

 

George Freeman has been Conservative MP for Mid-Norfolk since 2010. A former Minister for Science, Research and Innovation in the previous Government, he is a member of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, and also chairs the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.