The UK is "at risk of sleepwalking into its own food crisis" unless it develops a clear vision for how to increase production levels, Yorkshire MP and arable farmer Julian Sturdy has warned.

The York Outer MP told a Westminster Hall debate that he is worried about complacency over the issue given the global need to increase food production by 70 per cent by 2050. He said Britain was "uniquely placed" to lead the world in the area of sustainable agriculture.

"With its good soils, temperate climate, professional farming sector and world-leading research and development, Britain is uniquely placed not only to optimise its capacity for sustainable and efficient food production, but also to become a global hub for agriscience excellence and innovation, exporting technological solutions, attracting inward investment, and fostering international research co-operation.”

The government has announced £200 million of funding to help aid the UK's fight against devastating livestock diseases such as bird flu and bovine TB.

The investment will be pumped into the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) laboratories at Weybridge, known globally for its scientific and veterinary capability.

APHA, responsible for safeguarding animal and plant health, helped control the devastating outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in 2001, and is currently tasked with tackling the largest avian influenza outbreak on record.

UK inflation rose to the highest level for three decades in January, with the price of everyday food continuing to increase.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said consumer prices index (CPI) inflation reached 5.5% in January, up from 5.4% in December.

This was the highest rate since March 1992, when the CPI stood at 7.1%. Food and non-alcoholic drink prices rose by 4.3% in January, the largest in nearly 10 years.

Researchers in China are excited by their government’s approval of gene-edited crops, which they say clears the way for the plants’ use in agriculture and should boost research into varieties that are tastier, pest-resistant and better adapted to a warming world.

Since China’s agriculture ministry released preliminary guidelines on 24 January, researchers have been hurrying to submit applications for the use of their gene-edited crops. These include the development of wheat varieties resistant to a fungal disease called powdery mildew, which are described in a paper in Nature this week.

“This is very good news for us. It really opens the door for commercialization,” says plant biologist Caixia Gao at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing, who is a co-author of the paper.

Proponents of a large-scale move to organic farming in the UK have been issued with a warning as new research showed an EU switch is set to slash crop yields. Under plans set out in the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy, European farmers will have to increase the organic area to at least 25 per cent of the overall farmed area, but a study from Wageningen University showed crop yields under organic systems were up to 47 per cent lower than conventional.

The research - Impact Assessment of EC2030 Green Deal Targets for Sustainable Crop Production - also found an EU target to cut pesticide use and risks would be put at risk by the move to organic, with much higher use of copper-based active ingredients to control disease.

Paul Temple, a mixed farmer from east Yorkshire, described the findings as ’shocking’ and claimed they provided some important lessons about the direction of travel in the UK. "Transitioning to lower-input farming systems - while at the same time denying access to advanced genetic technologies such as GM and gene editing - is simply a recipe for reduced production, higher food prices and increased reliance on food imports, so offshoring emissions and environmental degradation elsewhere," he said.

Expanding global land area for conservation could have an adverse impact on human health and food security, UK scientists have warned.

Researchers studied the potential effects of “extreme” conservation and what would happen if 30% and 50% of terrestrial land were devoted to biodiversity.

They found that when agriculture was displaced, global and regional food prices could increase, which in turn could affect food security and increase diseases associated with malnourishment.

There is widespread misunderstanding about the impact methane has on global warming, according to Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science and head of the climate dynamics group at the University of Oxford.

“UK agriculture is no longer contributing to an increase in global temperatures and that has been achieved largely because of falling methane emissions from the ruminant sector over the last 20-30 years,” said Prof Allen.

He added he believed we need to frame climate policy in terms of warming outcomes rather than emissions inputs.

Climate change is causing UK plants to flower almost a month earlier on average, according to a study. Just as autumn leaf fall is being delayed by warmer weather, flowers are appearing earlier on trees and shrubs.

But while some might welcome these untimely blooms, scientists are warning of the risks. They say if the trend continues, there are knock-on effects for birds, insects and whole ecosystems.

Ecological mismatch may kick in, which would have a dramatic effect "on the functioning and productivity" of nature and farming, said lead researcher, Prof Ulf Buntgen of the University of Cambridge.

More than a dozen universities which offer courses in agriculture are collaborating in setting out the farming industry's future research priorities. Sixteen universities have agreed to establish the new Agricultural Universities Council (AUC) which will engage with the government on policy.

The initiative responds to calls for more joined-up research as the UK agricultural industry goes through a rapid post-Brexit transition. The AUC's first project will be to map existing agricultural research capacity across the UK for the first time in a decade.

It will also work with farmers, as well as food firms, environmental, welfare and community groups, to shape future research priorities. The council will create a report addressing the highest priority areas for research investment relating to agriculture.

Numbers of farmland birds on fields established by direct drill or min till can be 1000% higher than conventionally established areas over winter, according to research. The independently monitored research follows over three years of monitoring on two farms, undertaken by the Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) and Syngenta Conservation Agriculture.

The research is studying the field-scale agronomic, economic and environmental implications of conservation agriculture establishment techniques on contrasting light land, at East Lenham in Kent, and the heavy soils of Loddington in Leicestershire.

On the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) Allerton Project farm, at Loddington, areas established with these techniques recorded an average 1011% more birds over the winter, compared to crops established with conventional plough-based tillage.