Farming Today This Week

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Farming Today: Farming Today This Week: GM

Farming Today This Week: GM

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Farming Today This Week: GM

Charlotte Smith and guests discuss whether GM crops have a future in the UK.

Charlotte Smith asks Johnathan Napier from Rothamsted Research, Liz O'Neill from GM Freeze and farmer Joe Stanley if genetic modification of crops has a future in the U.K.

Charlotte Smith is joined by Johnathan Napier from Rothamsted Research, Liz O'Neill from GM Freeze and farmer Joe Stanley to discuss if genetic modification of crops has a future.

Genetic modification of crops is currently banned in the EU but in his first Parliamentary speech in July Boris Johnson announced his intention to liberate UK bioscience from regulation.  Charlotte and her guests respond to this statement and discuss whether using GM to make a crop more resistant to disease or pests could in turn make UK agriculture more sustainable.  Joe Stanley sees a benefit to engineering crops that can withstand the changing climate.  Anna Hill reports on a trial that uses GM to increase iron levels in white flour but Liz O'Neill argues that the problems of food poverty and poor nutrition in our diets needs to be fixed with education, not technology. 

Producer: Toby Field

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