Potato Review

10 POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2022 GENETIC TECHNOLOGY T HE Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill recently outlined in the Queen’s Speech and launched into Parliament on May 25th, has been causing ripples amongst those involved in the potato supply chain. e government has said that the Bill will remove unnecessary barriers to research into new gene-editing technology, while precision breeding techniques can produce crops with fewer inputs, including pesticides and fertilisers, improving the sustainability, resilience and productivity of the UK’s food system. Environment Secretary George Eustice has been quoted as saying: “ ese precision technologies allow us to speed up the breeding of plants that have natural resistance to diseases and better use of soil nutrients so we can have higher yields with fewer pesticides and fertilisers. e UK has some incredible academic centres of excellence and they are poised to lead the way.” The Genetic Technology Bill It’s been escribed as a welcome departure from EU constraints, and a boost for research, while others believe it’s a step backward for growers and consumers. e bill, aimed at promoting “e cient” farming and food production, has met with a welcome response from many working in the science and research sectors, who believe it will ultimately aid growers and boost food production. But others have described it as “a violation of choice” and said it undoes all the positive work done to promote organic production in recent years. Crop science organisation NIAB welcomed the announcement. NIAB Chief Executive Professor Mario Caccamo said the announcement marked a further important step towards more science- based and proportionate regulation of technologies, giving a boost to prospects for UK plant science and the development of more sustainable farming systems. “Innovation in plant breeding will be the single most important factor in helping global food supplies keep pace with a growing world population, in the face of climate change and pressure on nite natural resources of land, water, energy and biodiversity. e ongoing con ict in Ukraine has brought into sharp relief the precarious balance which exists between global food supply and demand, and the need to explore every option to increase food production sustainably. “Access to precision breeding techniques such as CRISPR/Cas-9 will help accelerate the development of higher-yielding crops more resilient to pests and diseases, environmental conditions and climate change e ects, food products with improved nutritional qualities, and reduced need for agricultural inputs such as pesticides and synthetic fertilisers,” he recently told e Fresh Produce Journal . Professor Dame Linda Partridge, Vice- President and Biological Secretary of the Royal Society, the independent scienti c academy of the UK, said genetic technologies, including genome editing, can help address the environmental and societal challenges faced by 21st Century agriculture. She added: “ e Royal Society has always advocated that regulation of genetic technologies should be based on the outcome of any genetic changes, rather than the current focus on the technology used to make a genetic change. is approach would Precision technologies aim to speed up the breeding of potato plants that have natural resistance to diseases and better use of soil nutrients. Photo: Chad Elliott