Planting hedgerows on arable land to boost populations of pollinating insects could increase crop yields by 10%, according to new research. CPRE, the countryside charity, wants the government to act on the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee and expand the UK’s hedgerow network by 40% by 2050.

The charity commissioned the Organic Research Centre (ORC) to investigate what this could mean for farmers and others. In that study, hedgerows were shown to cut the need for pesticide controls by 30% and increase yields by 10%.

CPRE said this demonstrated that strategic planting of hedgerows on arable land has the potential to pay for itself. It calculated that for every £1 invested in hedgerows, farmers would see a £1.73 return from higher crop yields and reduced spend on pesticides. 

Genetic innovation may create opportunities to transform agri-food systems through nutritionally healthier crop varieties that have greater disease resistance, the Regulatory Horizons Council said. The expert committee's report, which issued recommendations to government, suggested that genetic changes could help chemical use and greenhouse gas emissions fall. This in turn would improve climate resilience and contribute to more sustainable agricultural systems, the Council's report explained.

The British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB), the representative body for the UK plant breeding industry, welcomed the report. "This report recognises the benefits of genetic technologies and supports the proposals set out in the recent Defra consultation to take simple gene edited crop varieties – which could have occurred in nature or through conventional plant breeding – out of the scope of existing genetically modified organism (GMO) regulation," BSPB CEO, Samantha Brooke said.

‘Eco-friendly’ LED streetlights are even more harmful for insect populations than the traditional sodium bulbs they are replacing, a NERC-funded study has shown.

The negative impacts of light pollution on insects including moths, which provide essential food sources for a variety of animals and are important pollinators, are well known.

However, scientists behind this latest research say it is the first investigation into the effects of the whiter outdoor LED lights on insect populations in ‘real world’ conditions.

Widespread use of anti-viral drugs in livestock creates a risk for human health – so agriculture should look instead to genome editing to disease-proof its animals.

This approach has already yielded results in tackling respiratory disease in pigs, and one of the scientists behind that breakthrough, Professor Helen Sang of the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, is calling for the technology to be fully harnessed as a means of preventing disease spread and drug resistance throughout livestock production.

Dairy co-operative Arla has revealed carbon footprint data from just under 2,000 of its UK dairy farmers, suggesting they are world-beaters in terms of their environmental impact.

In a new report, A sustainable future for British dairy, the company maps the carbon footprint of its raw milk, as well as the source of greenhouse gas emissions on-farm, using analysis of 1,964 of its UK farmers.

The results show that the farmers’ raw milk is produced with emissions of 1.13kg/litre of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is about half the global average and less than the UK average of 1.25kg/litre.

Organic consumers are being duped by “illicitly” marketed products that are grown from conventional seeds, MPs have warned, as they call for the Environment Secretary to launch an investigation.

Organic growers in Scotland have been accused of illicitly marketing crops grown from 100 per cent conventional seed as organic in a “clear breach” of rules, the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture has said.

The growers received premiums of more than £500 a tonne because their product was marked as organic, in what Julian Sturdy MP described as a "kick in the teeth" for conventional farmers.

Vegan diets are unlikely to be widely adopted by the public, scientists have admitted, and eating only plant-based food may reduce intake of essential nutrients found only in meat and dairy.

The warning comes from the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF), which has published a report looking at the need to consider nutritional quality of diets, alongside environmental benefits, in order to achieve sustainable diets.

It says that evidence does not suggest the need to cut out meat or other animal-derived foods entirely in order to eat a healthier and more sustainable diet.

Research teams in the UK have received significant funding to develop new varieties of oilseed rape which are resistant to cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB).

Scientists from the John Innes Centre (JIC) and Rothamsted Research will work together with crop breeding companies as part of the project which aims to find solutions to one of the most significant crop pests, which can devastate OSR crops.

Industry partners participating in this research include seven crop breeding companies: DSV, KWS, Limagrain, Bayer, Elsoms, RAGT and LS Plant Breeding, and the AHDB.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has just published a 215-page paper comparing how UK regulation of novel foods and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) differs from that of non-EU countries.

As the FSA continued to build its science and evidence base after Brexit, it said the report - which was commissioned in summer 2020 – would help set out what systems operate around the world to regulate the international trade of these products.

“As a responsible and independent government regulator, with consumer interests at heart, it is vital that we continue to carry out research into all elements of the food system – and we are open and transparent in doing so," said FSA chief scientific adviser professor Robin May.

A new vertical farm will be built at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) as part of a project seeking to grow more local produce by utilising land more efficiently.

The agricultural college will be the first higher education institute in Scotland to open a vertical farm for research and education. It will build the half million-pound facility at its King’s Buildings campus in Edinburgh next year.

The facility will grow nutrient-dense fruit and vegetables that have specific human health qualities. It will also analyse crop yield and growth rates with all resource inputs to compare their carbon footprint to other production systems.