RESEARCH into gene edited food crops is to go ahead in England and Wales – and Defra has offered to make the enabling legislation available to Scotland too.

Firmly pinning its colours to the GE mast, Defra this week announced the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, and declared that the new legislation would make the UK the 'best place in the world to invest in agri-food research and innovation'.

The Bill will enable the development and marketing of precision bred plants and animals, and according to Defra, will drive economic growth and attract investment into the UK.

Defra minister, George Eustice, said: "Outside the EU we are free to follow the science. These precision technologies allow us to speed up the breeding of plants that have natural resistance to diseases and better use of soil nutrients so we can have higher yields with fewer pesticides and fertilisers."

Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Gideon Henderson, added: “The UK is home to some of the world’s leading research institutions in this area and these reforms will enable their scientists to use their expertise to make farming more resilient and our food healthier and more sustainable.”

Speaking from the James Hutton Institute in Dundee, Director of Science Lesley Torrance, said: “These crops are urgently needed to address future food security which is threatened by climate change and pests, and to help reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture whilst maintaining crop yields.

“The JHI uses innovative precision breeding technologies which have the potential to speed the development of new crop varieties in a more reliable way. We welcome both the focus of the Bill which is on the assessment of the properties of the new crop and not the process used to develop it; and the transparency of this information which will be held on a public register.”

There was also a warm welcome for the legislation from NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy: “Scottish farmers and crofters, backed by some world leading research facilities here in Scotland, have always shown themselves to be early adopters of new farming technologies.

“NFUS believes precision breeding techniques such as gene editing have considerable potential to deliver benefits for food, nutrition, agriculture and climate change to build on the significant amount of work that farmers and crofters are already undertaking to establish more sustainable and resilient farming systems.

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“We firmly believe that, led by scientific expertise, precision breeding techniques as a route to crop and livestock improvement could allow us to grow crops which are more resilient to increased pest and disease pressure brought about by our changing climate and more extreme weather events. It would also allow us to use new breeding techniques to breed more productive, efficient animals that produce lower emissions and need fewer inputs to protect their welfare.”

However, the Scottish Government has a long-held opposition to biotechnology in food production, consistently arguing that the 'clean and green' reputation upon which Scotland has built its food and drink sector would be damaged by the adoption of techniques that consumers might consider far from natural. At the very least, ScotGov has indicated that it won't budge on the supposedly less unnatural use of gene editing until the European Union accepts it.

This did not stop Mr Eustice and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack this week writing to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and rural affairs minister Mairi Gougeon to invite them to join Defra in taking forward the gene-editing legislation.

"The opportunity to join together in bringing forward this legislation would ensure that Scottish farmers and food producers could benefit from this technology and support Scottish academia to ensure they remain an innovative centre for research and development," wrote Messrs Eustice and Jack. At the time of going to press, the Scottish Government had not published a response to this invitation.