Rothamsted welcomes latest advance of UK Precision Breeding Legislation

Legislation which allows for the implementation of the 2023 Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act was laid in Parliament on Tuesday. If passed, as is likely, the act will come into force in Autumn 2025.  

Speaking at the NFU conference on Tuesday, Defra secretary Steve Reed said he was delighted  that the act was now progressing through its final legislative stages.  

″Innovation and technology will help farmers produce more food more sustainably and more profitably. This [Act] offers huge potential to transform the plant breeding sector in England by enabling innovative products to be commercialised in years instead of in decades, and we are reinstating the Precision Breeding Industry Working Group so the whole food supply chain can work together to bring new food and feed products to market faster.″

The Precision Breeding Working Group aims to facilitate routes to market for precision-bred plant products and will facilitate discussions between representatives across the food sector.

The 2023 Act covers only plants. Measures for animals will be introduced after Defra has developed the details of a regulatory process for safeguarding precision-bred animal health and welfare.

Welcoming the legislative progress, Rothamsted’s Prof Johnathan Napier said, ″This Act will make life much easier for creators and developers working with precision bred - specifically gene edited - crops. 

″It is very encouraging that the potential of precision bred crops to deliver enhanced nutrition and more sustainable agriculture is recognised by Government and the appropriate modifications are made to the new Act. Rothamsted is at the forefront of efforts to use gene editing to deliver a greener economy and this new legislation will allow innovations such as low acrylamide wheat enter the market more quickly and with less regulatory burden."

The move has also been welcomed across a range a UK scientific institutions and universities as a significant step forward for UK research and development in this crucial new technology.