Croptec 2024 – A pivotal point for gene-edited crops

David Exwood, Mark Buckingham of Bayer Crop Science, Tom Allen-Stevens of BOFIN, Nigel Halford of Rothamsted Research on a panel

Photograph: (L-R) David Exwood, Mark Buckingham of Bayer Crop Science, Tom Allen-Stevens of BOFIN, Nigel Halford of Rothamsted Research

To capture the potential of GE (gene-edited) crops, farmers need regulation due this year to act as a spur rather than a hurdle, they must navigate the politics as much as the science and, as a leading researcher told Croptec, the industry must “get on with it”, because of the pace of change elsewhere.

Secondary legislation to unlock the powers of the Precision Breeding Act is expected imminently and will do much to determine the prospects for investment in English GE crops – those where beneficial traits that could have occurred naturally are sped up, rather than GM, which involves inserting DNA to add traits.

Getting the framework right will be critical and that wasn’t lost on a Croptec panel of chair and NFU Deputy President David Exwood, Prof Nigel Halford of Rothamsted Research, Bayer Crop Science’s Mark Buckingham and BOFIN founder Tom Allen-Stevens.

The potential


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