The government has approved an emergency application for sugar beet growers to use neonicotinoid treated seed to combat virus yellows in 2021.

It follows a devastating season for the crop – which has seen major losses to the disease. Neonicotinoid seed treatments were banned in 2019 over concerns that the chemicals are harmful to bees and other pollinators.

In a statement, Defra said it had carefully considered all the issues and would let growers use the “Cruiser SB” seed treatment subject to a number of conditions.

Defra Secretary George Eustice has said there is ‘no scientific justification whatsoever’ for the EU’s ban on UK seed potato exports.

The Secretary of State told attendees of the opening session of the online Oxford Farming Conference that the UK Government had applied ‘on the first available day’ for recognition of equivalence, which would overturn the ban.

The EU introduced the prohibition on the product, deemed to be a plant health risk, after the UK Government refused to dynamically align itself with the bloc’s regulations.

Scientists have welcomed Defra's new consultation on gene editing as the technology will lead to increased crop yields and improved resilience to pests and diseases.

Rothamsted Research, one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, says gene editing technologies will soon be contributing to a more sustainable and productive farming sector.

"We’ve already seen the huge benefits genome editing brings to areas such as medicine – it’s now time to apply the same sort of innovation, together with responsible regulation, to our food production," Director Professor Angela Karp said.

A potential roll out of gene editing could bring opportunities for the livestock sector if the technology is used ethically and responsibly, industry bodies have said.

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, environment secretary George Eustice announced the launch of a consultation into future regulation on gene editing.

Mr Eustice voiced his support for gene editing technology regulation to be reviewed in England, saying it could unlock substantial benefits to the environment, produce healthier food and help farmers with crops resistant to pests, disease or extreme weather.

Genetically edited crops have long been talked about in the arable sector, but growers could be one step closer to having them in their fields, following the launch of the Government’s consultation.

Disease resistance, climate change resilience and lower fertiliser requirements were all benefits of the plant breeding technique mentioned by Defra chief scientific advisor, Prof Gideon Henderson during the Government’s press briefing on the potential changes to regulation.

“Gene editing could also increase productivity of land use and free up land potentially for rewilding, tree planting or other public goods,” he said.

New opportunities to create compaction-resistant crops that are able to grow in the hardest of soils could be on the horizon thanks to a scientific breakthrough.

Researchers discovered how the plant signal ethylene causes roots to stop growing in hard soils. But this signal can be “switched off” to allow roots to punch through compacted soil.

The research team was led by scientists from the University of Nottingham’s Future Food Beacon and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Their study has been published in the latest Science journal.

Researchers have identified regions in the genetic makeup of chickens that are linked to resistance to Campylobacter - the leading bacterial cause of food poisoning.

Data obtained in the study informs the extent to which parts of the genetic code can be linked to the prevalence of Campylobacter in the chicken gut.

A study led by researchers from the Roslin Institute, alongside poultry breeding company Aviagen, investigated the genetic make-up of 3,000 chickens bred for meat.

France sees crops developed using gene-editing techniques as different to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and opposes a European Union court decision to put them under strict GMO regulations, the country’s agriculture minister said.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in 2018 that mutagenesis, among so-called New Breeding Techniques (NBT) based on targeted editing of genes, fall under rules applying to GMOs that incorporate DNA from a different species. The decision was welcomed by some environmentalists who have long opposed GMOs as a threat to ecosystems, and criticised by seed makers and scientists as penalising Europe’s agricultural research capacity.

“NBTs are not GMOs,” Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said in an interview published by several farming news outlets, including Agra Presse on Friday. “This (NBT) technology allows much quicker development of a variety that could have emerged naturally at some point, and that is a very good thing,” he said, calling for NBT not to be regulated like GMOs. The agriculture ministry confirmed the comments on Monday.

While Scottish government rural affairs minister, Ben Macpherson yesterday re-iterated his administration’s intention to continue a precautionary approach to the growing of gene-edited crops in line with EU rules, signs were emerging that Europe might be set to change its views.

In 2018 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that New Breeding Techniques (NBT) such as gene editing should fall under the rules which applied to transgenic genetically modified organisms (GMOs) which incorporated DNA from a different species.

However France looks set to accept that crops developed using gene-editing techniques – which introduce no new DNA – differ from GMOs and could oppose the ruling which sees strict restrictions placed on the commercial growing of gene-edited crops.

Covid-19 has curbed the move to eat less meat as people looked for comfort foods during lockdown, with a resurgence in processed meat sales.

According to Mintel, the number of Brits limiting or reducing meat in their diet dropped from 51 per cent to 41 per cent in 2020. But sales of processed meat products grew 18 per cent.

More cooked breakfasts boosted sales of bacon and sausages while increased homeworking meant more people bought cooked meats such as ham.

The Wildlife Trusts has threatened to take legal action against the UK after it approved the emergency use of a banned pesticide for sugar beet crops.

Earlier this month, Defra approved an emergency application from the NFU for sugar beet growers to use a neonicotinoid seed treatment against virus yellows, which is spread by aphids and is a threat to emerging beet crops.

The authorisation is for the use of Syngenta’s Cruiser SB on sugar beet only and covers use in 2021 in England.

Leading food experts have accused the government of failing to adequately protect food supplies against the backdrop of the pandemic and Brexit.

The three academics have sent an open letter to the prime minister pressing the case for urgent investment in 'food defence' measures. They say this would ensure adequate infrastructure is in place to protect the population from insecure food supplies.

Professors Tim Lang, Erik Millstone and Terry Marsden argue that while emergency provisions to smooth post-Brexit trade have been taken, there has been no parallel attention to improving consumer preparedness for food emergencies.