Farming Today

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Farming Today: 24/05/22 - Gene editing, palm oil in dairy cow feed and growing lavender

24/05/22 - Gene editing, palm oil in dairy cow feed and growing lavender

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 24/05/22 - Gene editing, palm oil in dairy cow feed and growing lavender

Gene editing means tomato plants can produce vitamin D. Is it an opportunity for farmers?

Gene editing means tomato plants can produce vitamin D - is it an opportunity for farmers, or not needed at all?

The Government is presenting its Genetic Technology Bill to Parliament this week, which will allow the commercial growing of gene-edited crops in England. Speeding up approval for research into gene-editing has already been happening. Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have developed a Gene Edited (or GE) tomato which can produce pro-vitamin D3 in the fruit and the leaves - and when grown outdoors this could be converted into actual Vitamin D in the plant.

The diet of many dairy cows is supplemented with palm acid oil (a by-product of palm oil production). Scientists at the University of Nottingham have been working to find home-grown oil alternatives, in an effort to cut the carbon footprint of dairy production.

And Norfolk Lavender near Hunstanton has been operating for nearly a century. The lavender is distilled and sold on site as an essential oil, but a growing part of the business is as a tourist destination!

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