Scientists have produced gene-edited livestock using a technique which they say could lead to healthier animals and more sustainable meat production.

The researchers from universities in the UK and the US used the Crispr-Cas9 gene-editing tool to remove a male fertility gene in the embryo in pigs, goats, cattle and mice.

The male animals were born sterile, but otherwise healthy, and they began producing their own sperm after being injected with stem cells that produce only desired sperm from the donor’s genetic material.

A significant rise in climate refugees will seek asylum in Europe as more than 1.2 billion people are displaced by ecological threats over the next three decades, a report has predicted.

Water and food shortages are set to cause mass migration from 31 countries which are unable to cope with looming environmental crises, the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) warned.

The resulting displacement will “be on a vastly larger scale” than the 2015-16 migrant crisis if nothing is done to tackle the ecological breakdown, the think tank’s founder Steve Killelea told The Independent.

An independent assessment of the value of research taking place at crop science organisation NIAB has revealed an 18-fold return on investment to the wider UK economy.

The economic impact report, by Donald Webb of Brookdale Consulting, concluded that for every £1 spent on research at NIAB, at least £17.60 is returned to the UK economy through improved production efficiency, economic growth, import substitution, export earnings and inward investment.

Ministers say neonicotinoid exemptions needed to save sugar industry, but ecologists are aghast

France has moved to reverse a ban on a class of pesticides only weeks after it came into force, reigniting a bitter dispute between environmentalists and farmers and embarrassing politicians who have championed ecological causes under President Emmanuel Macron.

The French cabinet’s approval on Thursday of a draft law allowing sugar beet growers to use neonicotinoids was portrayed by ministers as essential to save the country’s sugar industry, the EU’s largest.

The price of flour and bread is set to rise after what could be the worst UK wheat harvest in 40 years, the industry is warning. Farmers say that the extreme weather over the last year is likely to mean wheat yields are down by up to 40%.

As a result, some millers have already increased the price of flour by 10% and they warn a no-deal Brexit could push up prices even further. And we're likely to see more of the same weather in future, experts say.

UK businesses will have to show that their products and supply lines are free from illegal deforestation, under government plans.

A proposed law would require larger companies operating in the UK to show where commodities such as cocoa, soy, rubber and palm oil originated from.

It would be illegal to use products that fail to comply with laws to protect nature in those origin nations.

Genes which confer resistance to the deadly fungal disease stem rust have been successfully transferred from wheat into barley.

In an advance which could lead to wider use of resistance genes from other wild relatives of elite crops, the John Innes Centre team used genetic modification (GM) techniques to fortify barley plants with genes proven to have defensive activity in wheat.

The research is seen by researchers as a model for future efforts to protect crops against the growing threat of virulent fungal pathogens.

The UK Government has said it plans to keep the ban on using neonicotinoids to protect sugar beet, as France granted a three-year derogation to begin in the 2021 campaign.

The lifting of the ban in France is part of a package of measures designed to support beet growers, who are facing an ‘unprecedented crisis’.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food will also set up a €5m (£4.5m) fund to find alternatives to neonicotinoids, and will offer compensation to producers for crop losses, which are estimated to reach 50 per cent in some areas.

Tobacco plants have been modified with a protein found in algae to improve their photosynthesis and increase growth, while using less water, in a new advance that could point the way to higher-yielding crops in a drought-afflicted future.

The technique focuses on photosynthesis, the complex process by which plants are able to use sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce nutrients that fuel their growth. Enhancing photosynthesis would produce huge benefits to agricultural productivity, but the complexities of the process have stymied many past attempts to harness it.

In research published in the journal Nature Plants, scientists used genetic manipulation processes to increase an enzyme that already exists within the tobacco plant, introduce a new enzyme from cyanobacteria, and to introduce a protein from algae.

The agricultural supply industry has set out a 30-year plan to help make its part of the food chain more sustainable and meet carbon neutrality targets.

Included in the roadmap from the Agricultural Industries Confederation are targets for a 60 per cent increase in input efficiency by 2050, a 40 per cent increase in the recovery of resources used in the making of inputs and the meeting of zero carbon emission goals by using more green energy and decarbonising production.

There is also a commitment for the sector to invest £1.5 billion innovation and research and development over coming years.