UK’s innovation revolution?

Agroup of scientists have claimed Brexit could be an opportunity for the UK to forge new thinking on innovation in agriculture. Their focus is mainly on genetics and they are critical of the approach of the EU, particularly over GM and similar developments.

The group is know as the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC) and its funding comes largely from the major agrochemical companies.

It is critical of a European Court ruling that mutagenesis – changing genes within a plant’s genome – is the same as genetic modification, inserting a foreign gene.

The scientists claim this will further stifle innovation and say the UK should use Brexit as an opportunity to set its own course on science. A go-it-alone approach could be a problem if the UK secures a trade deal around unrestricted access to the EU-27 markets after Brexit.

Europe is making progress on curbing the use of antimicrobials in livestock production to help tackle antibiotic resistance – but an international report has confirmed that elsewhere there is still a long way to go.

The report from the international veterinary body, OIE, looked at changes from 2015 to 2017.

It saw some positives in that more countries contributed to its review and in the number using antimicrobials for growth promotion falling from 60 to 45 countries. Of the 45 still using these products a worrying 27 said they have no regulatory framework to control or monitor use. Seven were in Africa, 13 in the Americas and seven in Asia and the Far East. Meanwhile organic food production has hit a new global high of 70 million hectares. Sales are worth €90 billion a year, with the United States the biggest market at 40 billion, followed by Germany and France.

The European Commission says it is making progress towards securing a trade deal with Australia, which would include agricultural products.

Efforts to secure a deal have seen a series of meetings at commissioner and Australian minister level since last June.

Farm commissioner Phil Hogan was there this month to press the case for mutual recognition of GI (geographical indication) products. The aim is a free trade agreement similar to that in place with Canada, but Hogan admitted agriculture is the biggest challenge. Negotiators have deemed beef and lamb sensitive products.

These are also the difficult issues in parallel discussions between New Zealand and the EU. The UK has these countries as targets for post-Brexit trade deals, but the lure of the EU and 500 million consumers tops Commonwealth loyalties – although the southern hemisphere will like the UK’s apparent willingness to eliminate tariffs on food imports.

Activist group Greenpeace has claimed the CAP has driven the EU towards intensive livestock production and larger farms. It is calling for a radical change over support to move the EU towards more extensive livestock regimes and ultimately plantbased diets.

A go-it-alone approach could be a problem if the UK secures a trade deal... after Brexit