Amid reports that Boris Johnson is set for on-to-one talks with President Joe Biden in Washington next week to discuss joint action on climate change, a prominent farming MP has written to the Prime Minister urging him to include food and agriculture on the agenda, and in particular to sign the UK up to the new US-led Global Coalition for Agricultural Productivity Growth.

Julian Sturdy MP has written to the Prime Minister Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP urging the UK to sign up to the US-led Global Coalition for Agricultural Productivity Growth

Current development of future farm support policies ‘over-reliant on voluntary and campaigning NGOs’, says farming MP

The chair of an influential cross-party group at Westminster has written to Environment Secretary George Eustice demanding an urgent Government review into the practice of non-organic seed use by certified organic growers.

Martin Jenkins’ recent letter to you [...] raises serious concerns that certified organic growers taking part in oilseed rape trials in Scotland were illicitly marketing crops grown from 100% conventional seed as organic, receiving premiums in excess of £500/tonne yet in clear breach of organic rules requiring conventional seed to be sown as a mixture with organically grown seed.

To: Rt Hon George Eustice MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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The chair of an influential cross-party grouping of MPs and Lords has welcomed high-level calls for the UK to use its Brexit freedoms to promote the development and commercial uptake of gene edited crops, and to develop a comprehensive system of farm to fork sustainability metrics to help deliver ‘more from less’ in terms of sustainable, efficient agriculture.

A leading Conservative Peer has issued a challenge to the organic sector to come clean about their use of toxic pesticides to control pests and diseases, urging them to keep an open mind on the potential of new precision breeding techniques to help reduce the use of chemical input.

Following media reports that the Co-op had said no to gene edited products in its stores, members and stakeholders of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture have welcomed unambiguous clarification, in a letter from The Co-operative Group chief executive Steve Murrells to Lord Cameron of Dillington.

Welcoming the Government’s long awaited consultation on plans to regulate the products of precision breeding techniques in the same way as conventional breeding methods, rather than as GMOs, leading scientists and cross-party politicians have highlighted the potential opportunities of these advances to support more sustainable farming and food production systems.