Genetically modified soya beans designed to absorb light more efficiently produced a 25% greater yield in an advance that could significantly boost global food supplies.

The field trials are the first successful demonstration that genetic engineering can be used to directly target the photosynthesis process in food crops. The improvements seen are almost unprecedented for this kind of intervention and would take decades to achieve through selective breeding.

The advance comes as the most recent UN food security report found that nearly 10% of the world population was hungry last year, up from 8% in 2019, and with projections that the climate crisis will lead to harsher growing conditions for crops.

The work has been conducted by Crop Health and Protection (CHAP) and Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) to help sectors identify areas for improvement and opportunities available to facilitate positive change.

This is all with a view to helping farmers and growers reach net zero, optimise the unique opportunities to capture carbon, and potentially support other sectors in the drive to reducing the impact of climate change.

Fruit and vegetables on the shelves will be smaller and look different as the summer's hot and dry weather hits crops, experts say. Potatoes, onions, carrots, apples and Brussels sprouts are likely to be worst-affected.

Many areas of the UK have seen very low rainfall in 2022, and parts of England are in drought. The National Farmers Union (NFU) wants supermarkets to accept more "wonky" produce and be flexible with growers.

Scientists say that heatwaves and drought will increase with climate change and that we must adapt to how this affects agriculture and our food.

Achieving a 25 per cent reduction in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions will prove “very challenging” but debate on the subject must remain grounded in facts, the head of Ireland’s Agricultural Science Association (ASA) has said.

Dr George Ramsbottom said despite the tenor of recent public discourse, emissions have remained relatively unchanged since the 1990s and he saw no signs of any increase in the dairy herd.

“You’d imagine from what’s being reported that there was kind of an explosion in stock numbers and an explosion in emissions going on but the reality is probably not quite as dramatic as that,” he said, speaking ahead of the forthcoming Agricultural Science Association conference next month.

A new partnership between Hewell prison in Worcestershire and a vertical farming company is seeing prisoners learning advanced farming techniques in a project designed to prepare them for life outside, once they have been released.

The trial is being headed by farming technology company LettUs Grow – specialists in aeroponic food systems – and will enable the prisoners to produce leafy greens in compact towers using little or no soil.

Supermarket shoppers could soon be checking the environmental impact of food before putting it in their trolleys, thanks to new research. Reliable information of this kind hasn't been available. That's because UK manufacturers only have to list their main ingredients, and that's by percentage, not amount.

Scientists have overcome the problem by using public databases to estimate the composition of thousands of food products and their impact. Many consumers want to know how their weekly food shop affects the planet, even though rising prices will likely be a more immediate concern for most.

Prof Peter Scarborough from Oxford University told BBC News he hopes that the research leads to an eco-labelling system for customers, but he believes that the bigger impact would come if the food industry uses it to cut its environmental footprint.

A project to facilitate more planting of the perennial bioenergy crop, Miscanthus, has been awarded over £3.3 million in funding through the second phase of the government’s Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme, to contribute to 2050 net zero targets.

Miscanthus specialist, Terravesta, has been successful in its bid to secure Phase 2 funding for its OMENZ project which stands for ‘Optimising Miscanthus Establishment through improved mechanisation and data capture to meet Net Zero targets’.

OMENZ will deliver improvements on the entire Miscanthus establishment process, including approaches to producing planting material, field preparation, innovative agri-tech, new planting techniques, and cutting-edge technologies to monitor establishment in the field.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found a way to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizers needed to grow cereal crops. The discovery could save farmers in the United States billions of dollars annually in fertilizer costs while also benefiting the environment.

The research comes out of the lab of Eduardo Blumwald, a distinguished professor of plant sciences, who has found a new pathway for cereals to capture the nitrogen they need to grow.

The discovery could also help the environment by reducing nitrogen pollution, which can lead to contaminated water resources, increased greenhouse gas emissions and human health issues. The study was published in the journal Plant Biotechnology.

Farming groups have warned the industry has had enough of being seen as an ‘easy target’ for Governments seeking to cut emissions levels. The comments come after the Irish Government introduced a sectoral emissions ceiling for agriculture of 25 per cent by 2030.

Thomas Binns, NFU uplands spokesperson, told Farmers Guardian while the the farming industry was aware of its climate responsibilities, agriculture was often seen by Government and other industries as an ‘easy target’.

He said: “Farming is a very a visible industry regarding the links between ruminants and emissions. And even though some of the information regarding this is now being questioned, the stigma remains. But farmers are now beginning to push back, as we can see in the Netherlands and Italy, and they are right to do so.”

The world’s first carrots to be certified as carbon neutral are being grown in Nottinghamshire by a farmer-owned co-operative.

Freshgrowers, which supplies Chantenay carrots to supermarkets and catering customers across the UK, is using offsetting measures in renewable projects to negate “unavoidable” emissions in the production and harvesting of its carrots.

Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) from the 2021-22 crop show a carbon footprint of 0.03g of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per kilogram of carrots – in comparison, bananas have a carbon footprint of 0.7kg CO2e.

Agri-environment schemes can significantly increase local bird and butterfly populations without damaging food production, a long-term research project has found.

Scientists from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) spent a decade monitoring the impacts of a large-scale Defra-funded experiment at Hillesden, a 1,000-hectare arable farm in Buckinghamshire.

Beginning in 2005, this involved creating several wildlife habitats, including seed-bearing plants for birds, wildflowers for pollinators and tussocky grass margins to support a range of birds, insects and small mammals.

Faced with an urgent need to drive improvements in the productivity, resilience and climate impact of British agriculture, leading plant scientist, Professor Jane Langdale, from the University of Oxford, has called on government to prioritise investment in crop genetic research as a primary driver of productivity in agriculture.

Writing on the Science for Sustainable Agriculture website, Professor Langdale – who led and authored a major review of UK plant science last year – asked why, in its plans for R and D funding, the UK Government was spending 20 times more on digital and precision farming projects, such as robotic harvesters, AI and sensor technology than it planned to invest in long-term, strategic crop genetic research.

“These agri-tech innovations are incredibly important in driving efficiency improvements at individual farm level, but they will prove to be relatively worthless without supporting corresponding gains in genetic potential," she argued.