Later this year gene-edited crops will be planted at about two dozen commercial farms across England for the first time to see how plants previously confined to the laboratory and glasshouse will fare in real-world conditions.
Agricultural progress is the essential factor in the quality of human life now being immeasurably greater than it was for our ancestors. Modern food crops are all already genetically edited improvements on their forebears. The difference now is that the fine-tuning can be done swiftly. At a time of climate fluctuation and international upheaval, the benefits of developing domestic food sources more resistant to weather, pathogens and pests are clear. The gene-edited crops being trialled could reduce methane emissions of cattle, cut carcinogens and produce a larger wheat grain. These are self-evidently desirable outcomes.
