A CUMBRIAN MP has pushed for an innovative new Bill to support farmers tackle environmental, animal welfare and food security challenges.

Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and The Border, showed his support for an innovative new Genetic Technologies Bill designed to boost food production technologies, fight animal disease and support British farmers produce high-quality food to the best international standards.

Covering precision-bred plants and animals, the Genetic Technologies (Precision Breeding) Bill will introduce evidence-based regulations for the agricultural industry to develop crops and livestock that are more resilient against diseases, the effects of climate change and are less reliant on pesticides.

A Bill that could spell the beginning of a new British era of precision breeding technologies, including gene editing, is edging closer to fruition, having now passed through the House of Lords.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) say that introducing a more proportionate and science-based regulatory system for precision-bred plants and animals will unlock opportunities to develop crops that are more resilient against disease and the effects of climate change like drought and flooding, and less reliant on pesticides.

The third Reading of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill happened on Monday (October 31) and was introduced in the House of Lords yesterday.

Food companies and governments must come together immediately to change the world’s agricultural practices or risk “destroying the planet”, according to the sponsors of a report by some of the largest food and farming businesses released on Thursday.

The report, from a taskforce within the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), a network of global CEOs focused on climate issues established by King Charles III, is being released days before the start of the United Nation’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt.

Many of the world’s largest food and agricultural businesses have championed sustainable agricultural practices in recent years. Regenerative farming practices, which prioritize cutting greenhouse gas emissions, soil health and water conservation, now cover 15% of croplands.

New legislation seeking to unlock gene-editing technologies in order to boost UK food security will return to parliament today. The Third Reading of the Genetic Technology Bill is scheduled for Monday (31 October) and is expected to be introduced in the House of Lords the following day.

The government said the legislation, a major departure from EU policy, would introduce a "more proportionate and science-based regulatory system" for precision-bred plants and animals. For example, the bill would enable scientists to spearhead the development of crops that are more resilient against disease and the effects of climate change.

Defra farming minister Mark Spencer said British scientists were 'leading the world' in precision breeding, with the bill putting "Britain at the forefront of agri-research".

The cost of living crisis has plunged millions of families into food poverty for the first time, according to shocking new figures from the UK’s biggest redistribution charity.

A survey of 9,500 charities receiving food from FareShare, which gets surplus from supermarkets and suppliers, found 90% had seen a rise in demand for their services, with almost 30% seeing it double.

Meanwhile, more than 70% of charities attributed the surge in need to people accessing their support for the first time, despite 51% of those being fully employed.

Only 3% of the land in England and 8% of the sea is effectively protected for nature, according to a new report. The government has committed to protecting at least 30% of land and sea by 2030, as part of a global initiative to slow the destruction of the natural world and catastrophic loss of species.

However the study by Wildlife and Countryside Link says that in England "little progress" had been made. The government said it was committed to meeting the 2030 target.

A national land use framework is the “single most important” step the government can take to drive decision-making over land use for food and energy production, nature and climate action, according to the government’s food tsar, Henry Dimbleby.

The UK government committed to creating a 2023 Land Use Framework for England in its Food Strategy document, published in June.

This will aim to ensure net-zero and biodiversity targets are met and help farmers adapt to a changing climate while allowing them to continue to produce high-quality, affordable food to support healthier diets.

Future funding certainty is critical to UK livestock farmers as they consider increased investment in technologies that have the potential to improve productivity and boost growth, a think-tank has warned.

Precision farming tools, such as electronic ID tags, monitoring collars and farm management apps, could help close the agricultural productivity gap between the UK and countries like Australia and the US.

Agricultural productivity is a focus for the government’s growth plan, with ministers promising imminent action to make farmers more efficient. Yet in new research based on interviews with UK farmers, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) found that many are holding off on spending money to modernise their operations due to uncertainty over new post-Brexit funding streams.

Preliminary results from Europe’s first field trials of gene-edited (GE) wheat have indicated there’s no yield or other agronomic penalty from the precision-breeding technique.

This means that precise edits can now be made to a wheat genome to improve its performance and specific grain qualities that currently take many years to change using conventional breeding techniques.

“This has been the first real test of the technology in wheat in the field in Europe, and it’s a very significant finding,” notes Nigel Halford, whose team at Rothamsted Research carried out the landmark trials.

The public has called for the government to take a cautious approach to introducing gene editing in the livestock sector. The government’s Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which paves the way for the use of the technology in England, is currently progressing through parliament.

In a bid to help shape the policy, members of the public were invited by scientific researchers to share views with experts in dialogue sessions. Overall, the participants wanted a wider public debate on gene editing.

They expressed a need for greater clarity on the government’s overall plan for food and farming to help them understand how the new technology fitted in, its impacts, and what was the potential value of animal gene editing.