Highland Show set for GM crops showdown on minister’s stance

At Rothamsted Research, where more GM trials will be carried out this year, Paterson said the UK was the natural home for scientific research and that the government would work with companies to overcome barriers to them setting up here.

But Scottish Government cabinet secretary Richard Lochhead confirmed his government still believed the better way forward was to retain Scotland’s reputation for naturally grown food.

Paterson said that worldwide there had been a 100-fold increase in the use of GM in the past 15 years. Last year, GM crops were grown by 17.3 million farmers in 28 countries on 170 million hectares – 12 per cent of global arable land and an area seven times the size of the United Kingdom.

“Farmers wouldn’t grow these crops if they didn’t benefit from doing so,” he said. Governments wouldn’t licence these technologies if they didn’t recognise the economic, environmental and public benefits. Consumers wouldn’t buy them if they didn’t think they were safe and cost effective.

“At the moment Europe is missing out. Less than 0.1 per cent of global GM cultivation occurred in the EU. While the rest of the world is ploughing ahead and reaping the benefits of new technologies, Europe risks being left behind. We cannot afford to let that happen. The use of GM could be as transformative as the original agricultural revolution was. The UK should be at the forefront of that now, as it was then.”

Paterson acknowledged that there were a variety of views on GM technology and Greenpeace’s chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said Paterson’s “inability to see the whole picture” meant he was missing the revolution in non-GM biotechnology.

However, Paterson’s stance received support from the English NFU, which said the UK government was right to lead the discussion and highlight why it could be used to help farmers produce more food for a growing population.”