The UK should increase visas for seasonal workers as part of a drive to cultivate as much food as possible domestically, a former chief of MI5 has said.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, who led the domestic intelligence service from 2002 to 2007, said in a lecture that security of food supplies would fit within the government’s own definition of national security. She said she believed this meant strengthening domestic supply.

“We need to acknowledge that we should produce as much of our own food as we can, with due regard to sustainability, and be able to export what we can,” the former director-general of the Security Service told members of the National Farmers’ Union.

A collaboration project in the malting barley industry aims to use regenerative agricultural techniques to cut crop carbon emissions by half in just five years.

Set up by global beverage company Suntory, malt supplier Muntons, consultancy firm Future Food Solutions and a group of farmers lead by Dewing Grain, the project will explore how barley can be grown in a more sustainable way to reduce emissions and protect watersources.

Starting from the 2022 autumn drilling campaign, the trial will see a group of 16 Norfolk farmers set a baseline for all crop-related emissions across a 160ha area. Data will be collected to design a programme that seeks to reduce emissions, enhance soil health and protect water, while maintaining crop performance and grain quality.

Could the key to feeding the world with a changing climate be hiding in a 300-year-old museum collection? That's one of the hopes of scientists combing through 12,000 specimens of wheat and its relatives held in the Natural History Museum's archives.

The most promising samples are having their genomes sequenced in a bid to identify the genetic secrets of hardier wheat varieties. Climate change and pests and diseases are putting the crop under pressure.

An action plan to boost British farming's productivity has been launched in the House of Lords, with the report criticising that science is 'often slow' to be applied at the farm level.

The Application of Science report puts forward recommendations needed to deliver science more quickly to tackle food security, net zero and biodiversity challenges.

One of the key insights from the report is that the path from scientific discovery to on-farm application in the UK is 'fragmented'. Unlike France, Germany, US and most other industrialised countries, the UK does not have a public or private entity clearly responsible for application of science in agriculture.

Farm leaders and scientists have signed an open statement to show support for livestock provisions in the Precision Breeding Bill.

Industry groups including the NFU, National Pig Association and the Roslin Institute have signed an open statement of support for the bill currently going through parliament.

The letter highlights the potential role of new breeding technologies such as gene editing in delivering 'more sustainable, high-welfare' UK livestock production. It includes an expression of support for the inclusion of livestock, noting that the bill does not seek to replace or change existing farm animal welfare regulations.

A new £1.5 million crop research centre has opened which will see researchers use gene-editing technology to improve the resilience and sustainability of crops.

Opening at the University of Warwick, the Elizabeth Creak Horticultural Technology Centre (ECHTC) will use the technique to improve UK crop production.

According to the university, the centre seeks to address issues relating to disease resistance, crop yields, adaptability to climate change and nutritional value in horticultural plants.

The prospect of gene-edited foods hitting supermarket shelves in Scotland has moved a step closer after SNP ministers relaxed their opposition provided scientists can demonstrate it is safe.

The SNP has long opposed genetic modification of food to protect the “clean, green brand of Scotland’s £15 billion food and drink industry”.

However, scientists have developed a process of gene editing which improves crops using their existing genetics, without introducing the foreign genes more commonly associated with genetic modification.

Sales of livestock veterinary antibiotics in the UK have more than halved since 2014 as farmers play their part in reducing antimicrobial resistance.

The government’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) has confirmed sales of antibiotics for use in livestock were at the lowest ever recorded level, with a 55 per cent reduction since 2014. Antibiotic usage in turkeys, broilers and ducks was down 81 per cent, 72 per cent and 89 per cent respectively compared to 2014.

The UK remains one of the lowest users of antimicrobials in Europe and has achieved one of the biggest reductions in resistance, with VMD chief executive Abigail Seager putting the success down to the ’collaborative and voluntary approach’ UK farmers have taken.

China’s authoritarian Government is playing the long game on food security, stockpiling massive amounts of the world’s key staples.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the country is on track to hold 69 per cent of the world’s corn reserves, 60 per cent of its rice and 51 per cent of its wheat by the end of this year.

Chinese customs data shows rice imports alone surged 53 per cent last year, while overseas purchases of wheat shot up by 50 per cent. Reports have suggested this aggressive stockpiling has been pushing up the price of global commodities at a time when food insecurity is on the rise.

In a laboratory in Norwich, scientists believe they are on the cusp of producing a banana that does not go brown. The lab is run by Tropic Biosciences, which is using genetic editing tools to create new varieties of important crops. In an era of climate change and climbing prices, these techniques could safeguard food supplies.

A new genetic technology bill that progressed to the House of Lords this week promises to allow researchers to break free from EU regulations that have so far blocked gene-edited organisms from being brought to the market.

British scientists are already working on drought-resistant wheat. Others hope to create chickens immune to bird flu.