Green light for plant gene-editing in the UK

Defra Secretary of State Steve Reed has given the green light for the government to progress legislation to allow crops that have been developed through precision breeding or gene editing to be grown in England. Speaking at a conference in Oxford in the first week of January 2025, Reed confirmed that secondary legislation will be introduced to Parliament by the end of March 2025. Primary legislation, the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding Act) had been passed by the previous Conservative administration in 2023. There had been concern that EU-UK realignment talks could delay or even block plans to press ahead with the new gene editing rules in England, which prompted the letter.

The all-party parliamentary group on Science and Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA) has welcomed the decision. Its chair George Freeman said the new legislation is progressive, coherent and evidence-based, and would “help unlock the promise of these critical technologies in accelerating access to the agricultural innovation needed to boost food security, make our farming systems more resilient, support nature recovery and reduce the climate and environmental footprint of food production.” Freeman said delays and speciation were potentially damaging for the confidence of prospective investors and innovators: He added that the Government should bring forward parallel implementing rules for farmed animals at the earliest opportunity. It is urgently needed to enable research using gene-editing techniques to tackle virulent livestock diseases.

Arable farmer Tom Allen-Stevens, who runs BOFIN (The British On Farm Innovation Network), said farmers are currently breeding gene-edited seed for wheat and barley to be used in field trials starting this autumn. Speaking to BBC Farming Today, Allen-Stevens said farmers were interested to see how the technology would work: “Until we can see how the technology works I don’t think many farmers will really understand the benefits or get it and likewise until food manufacturers have actually seen what they can do, they are not necessarily going to ask for them.” Allen-Stevens said he hoped that advantageous traits could be found that would be desirable, such as wheat that is fine for celiacs, which would take three times longer to bring to market conventionally. Europe is working at this at a slower pace, which could give UK farmers a competitive advantage, which would set up the sector well in the future.