Indonesia, the world’s second-largest importer of wheat, has approved the marketing of this drought-tolerant cereal variety, HB4, both as animal feed and for human consumption. It was approved for “feed” last year; now has “food and feed” approval.

The Indonesian food safety authorities published the approval this Tuesday and the fact has a strong impact on our country’s cereal market because that Southeast Asian country is also the second largest buyer of Argentine wheat: 21.3 % of wheat exports in 2020 went to Indonesia.

A new whitepaper has outlined the 'urgent need' for standardised tools and metrics to support the ruminant livestock sector in the UK to reach net zero.

Six priority recommendations in EIT Food's report include promoting regenerative agriculture strategies and rewarding farmers who support the transition to net zero.

Priority recommendations [also] include the urgent need for an internationally agreed and standardised measurement system to monitor the sector's GHGs, so that the effects of any changes or interventions can be monitored and verified over time.

Farm leader Minette Batters has criticised Defra’s Environmental Land Management scheme for farmers in England, arguing that it is not supported by science.

The NFU president delivered her damning verdict on Environmental Land Management (ELM) at Reading University during a speech on balancing net zero with food security. She questioned how the UK government could drive a new policy without scientific rigour.

Mrs Batters suggested the UK government should have involved the country’s best scientists in the design of ELM, including our world-leading, science-based agricultural research institutes, such as Rothamsted Research and Niab.

Parts of Britain's landscape today would be unrecognisable to someone who grew up just 70 years ago, a major survey of plant life suggests.

Non-native species have thrived while some native plants have been hit by modern agriculture and climate change.

In a 20-year study, botanists counted more non-native than native species in the wild. Thousands of volunteers counted millions of flora to produce a Plant Atlas covering the UK and Ireland.

A new assessment of Britain's research capability has concluded that it has "serious and longstanding problems". The report's author, Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse, said that the government "seriously underspends" on research. He also added that association with the EU's Horizon programme was "critical".

Sir Paul said the Prime Minister might not have received the best advice, following a BBC News report that he was considering alternative proposals.

Sir Paul's assessment is contained in a report commissioned by the department for business last year. In summarising its conclusions, Sir Paul said that UK research was "fragile, in jeopardy, and needs fixing".

The UK and Europe are leading the way for global agri-tech investments, having received nearly £81 billion from over 1,700 investors, according to a new report.

The report has highlighted that global investment in agri-tech is growing, almost doubling to £100 billion between January 2020 and January 2021.

Since 2000 – when worldwide investment stood at less than £1 billion – companies headquartered in the UK and mainland Europe have attracted over 43% of global investment in agri-tech.

Brazil has become the second country in the world after Argentina to approve the cultivation of genetically modified wheat, following a decision by the nation’s biosecurity agency CTNbio.

The approval request was made by plant genetics company Tropical Melhoramento e Genetica, a partner in Brazil of Argentina’s Bioceres, which has developed a variety of water-stress resistant GMO wheat known as HB4.

In a statement, Bioceres confirmed Brazil had concluded a safety evaluation of HB4, providing full approval for its commercialization and cultivation in the country.

This season, sugar beet growers will have access to the previously banned neonicotinoid seed treatment Cruiser SB (thiamethoxam) to protect the 2023 crop from virus yellows disease.

This comes after HSE granted emergency use of the insecticide if Rothamsted Research’s virus yellows disease forecast predicted high virus pressure in 2023. Today the forecast revealed the national crop is at high risk of contracting virus yellows disease this season.

The 2023 economic threshold for use of neonicotinoid seed treatments for virus yellows is 63% - this is much higher than last season. The outcome of the virus forecast today was 67%.

A 'doomsday' Arctic seed vault on Norway's Spitsbergen island is set to receive its most diverse batch of seed donations yet as efforts to secure the world's food supplies ramp up amid rising climate concerns.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built to protect the world's food stock from disasters ranging from nuclear war to global warming, will add 19,500 rare seed variety samples from across the world to its collection on Tuesday, taking its total stash to more than 1.2 million.

The vault, set in permafrost caves on an arctic mountainside halfway between mainland Europe and the North Pole, was launched in 2008 as a backup for the world's national and regional gene banks that store the genetic code for thousands of plant species.

More than £168 million in grants will be available to farmers this year to drive innovation, support food production, improve animal health and welfare and protect the environment.

Speaking at the National Farmers’ Union conference in Birmingham, Farming Minister Mark Spencer will set out how the grants will drive the development of new technology and innovative ways of farming, with a focus on practical solutions that advance food productivity and deliver significant environmental and animal welfare benefits.

These could include robotic technology to support with harvesting, handling equipment and cow mattresses to help prevent lameness in dairy cattle, sensors on tractors to measure the levels of nutrients in soils, or improvements to slurry storage - to further the efforts of farmers aiming to minimise their fertiliser use, and in turn reduce water and air pollution.

The "clock is ticking" for the government to protect homegrown food supply, the National Farmers' Union president has warned. Minette Batters said farmers were still being hit by labour shortages, high costs, the impacts of climate change and global political turmoil.

Mrs Batters said agricultural costs had risen by almost 50% since 2019 and the poultry industry - severely affected by the largest recorded outbreak of bird flu - had seen UK egg production fall to its lowest level in nine years. The country must "never take our food security for granted," she said.

"There are three cornerstones on which a prosperous farming sector must be built and which any government should use to underpin its farming policy," Mrs Batters said. "They are boosting productivity, protecting the environment and managing volatility.

Prof Dame Angela McLean is to replace Sir Patrick Vallance as the government chief scientific adviser (GCSA), the first woman to hold the role.

Dame Angela is currently Ministry of Defence chief scientific adviser and an expert on the spread of infectious diseases, at Oxford University.

As Sir Patrick's deputy during the pandemic, Dame Angela played a critical role at the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and drawing up advice.