Tomatoes that boost the body's vitamin D could be among the first gene-edited crops allowed on sale in England. Researchers in Norwich created the plants by turning off a specific molecule in their genetic code.

A bill will be introduced on Wednesday to allow commercial growing of gene-edited crops in England. The technique is currently not used for food production in the UK because of rules set by the EU but Brexit has enabled the UK to set its own rules.

SNP and Green ministers have been accused of putting their “constitutional obsession” ahead of Scotland’s food security.

The attack on the Scottish Government comes as ministers south of the border are set to table legislation tomorrow which would allow farmers to plant crops that have been edited to be more resistant to disease or need less water or fertiliser.

While the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill was first touted in the wake of Brexit, the UK Government is speeding up the process over fears about the impact of Russian blockades preventing the export of wheat from Ukraine.

The production of gene-edited crops is to be sped up to help guarantee British food supplies in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine. Russian blockades are preventing the export of key goods such as wheat from the country, leading to rising food prices and shortages globally.

Amid concern over the UK's food self-sufficiency, the Government will this week introduce a Bill which will allow farms to grow more crops by planting variants that have been edited to be more resistant to disease or need less water or fertiliser.

Although plans for the Bill have been in place since Brexit, a government source said it had taken on added importance in the wake of Ukraine. Asked about the impact of the conflict on the plans, the source said: “It’s always been quite prominent as a big Brexit benefit. But also yes - it could be good news for food security in terms of developing crops that are more resistant to disease.”

Modern "smart" farm machinery is vulnerable to malicious hackers, leaving global supply chains exposed to risk, experts are warning. It is feared hackers could exploit flaws in agricultural hardware used to plant and harvest crops.

Agricultural manufacturing giant John Deere says it is now working to fix any weak spots in its software. A recent University of Cambridge report said automatic crop sprayers, drones and robotic harvesters could be hacked.

Supermarket shoppers will be able to buy food produced using genetically-edited ingredients from as early as next year, the Environment Secretary has predicted. The Government is due to present a ground-breaking bill next week that will pave the way for crops to be produced using precision genetic editing techniques that will make them naturally more resilient and require less pesticides.

Speaking exclusively to i, George Eustice said the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill will be passed into law this year, potentially enabling the first GE foods to be available by 2023. Mr Eustice said some produce which is already available in other parts of the world, could be put forward for assessment for market authorisation in England soon after the legislation is passed. While the regulations will be limited to England, the produce is likely to be available UK-wide.

The UN has called for a 'transformation' of agriculture to make it more resilient to shocks amid fears the Ukraine war could soon cause a global food crisis. The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Qu Dongyu, made the urgent call at a UN meeting in New York on Wednesday (18 May).

Together, Russia and Ukraine produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply, and Ukraine in particular is seen as the world's bread basket. But since the start of Russia's invasion in February, exports have collapsed and prices have surged. This led India to recently ban its own wheat exports.

This crisis, along with the pandemic and the effects of climate change, have increased people’s vulnerability and pushed hundreds of millions of more people to the brink of hunger, Mr Dongyu said.

The weight of modern combine harvesters, tractors and other farm machinery risks compacting the soil, leading to flooding and poor harvests, according to researchers in Sweden.

The researchers calculated that combine harvesters, when fully loaded, have ballooned in size from about 4,000kg in 1958 to around 36,000kg in 2020. The researchers think the growing weight of farm machinery poses a threat to agricultural productivity.

Their analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests combine harvesters could be damaging up to a fifth of the global land used to grow crops. Thomas Keller, professor of soil management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden, says machinery should be designed not to exceed a certain load.

The world's largest economies have been called on to help combat food shortages as the Ukraine war squeezes supplies and pushes prices to record highs.

The head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the G7 nations, which includes the UK, must identify ways to make up for food gaps in global markets.

Russia and Ukraine are important players in global commodity markets, and the uncertainty surrounding the war has caused prices surges, particularly of wheat, maize and oilseeds, as well as fertilisers.

An Australian led team of international researchers has discovered a gene in wheat that helps produce higher quality crops. The scientists say the discovery could lead to increasing protein in wheat by up to 25 per cent with the potential to help improve its nutritional and economic value.

The researchers from the University of Adelaide and the UK’s John Innes Centre have identified the genetic driver that improves the yield traits of wheat. Lead researcher Scott Boden from the University of Adelaide said the significant discovery follows revolutionary progress in wheat science over the past decade.

The scientists say it is the first known example where a forward-genetics screen of a mutant population has been used to identify a gene that controls reproductive development in wheat. “If you identify genes that control flower development and you modify them so that more flowers are produced, then you can increase the productivity or yield of the plant,” he told AAP. He said the research was partly driven by the need to increase food security for the increasing human population.

Scottish farm leaders have renewed their plea for access to new technologies such as gene editing. It comes following confirmation in the Queen’s Speech that the UK Government will introduce new legislation – the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill – to unlock the potential of new farming technologies such as gene editing (GE).

The Scottish Government has long said it wants to maintain a GM-free crop status, however farming union NFU Scotland (NFUS) says farmers and crofters need access to GE technology to become more sustainable.

“New technologies, including the likes of gene editing can help positively address some of the big challenges Scottish agriculture faces, including how we respond to the climate emergency and address biodiversity loss,” said NFUS president Martin Kennedy.