09/June/21

 

The European Parliament yesterday confirmed its precautionary stance towards the use of a new genetic engineering technology called gene drive. In the Parliament's report on the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, adopted at the Parliament’s plenary on 8 June, Parliamentarians demand that "no releases of genetically engineered gene drive organisms should be allowed, including for nature conservation purposes, in line with the precautionary principle". Mareike Imken, coordinator of the European Stop Gene Drive Campaign, said: "With its position today, the European Parliament recognises that this technology raises a series of scientific, regulatory, societal and ethical questions and concerns. As its use could severely harm biodiversity, the European Parliament calls to postpone any environmental releases until these questions have been addressed and settled. This is an important message that should feed into the ongoing discussions about global regulations at the next meeting of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in September in Marseille and those of the Convention on Biological Diversity in October in Kunming, China." Save Our Seeds/Stop Gene Drives

 

 

Nature has provided most of the answers for the balanced farming that system manager Tim Parton is running in Staffordshire, UK, which is delivering double-digit wheat yields with a much reduced reliance on chemical inputs. Having started his Regenerative Agriculture journey back in 2009 by concentrating on soil health, he is now overseeing a complete system change based on biology, which only occasionally needs a helping hand. It’s still possible to produce 10t/ha wheat crops without a heavy reliance on nitrogen (N) fertiliser, fungicides and cultivations,” he says. “If you have a biologically active soil, in time the rest will follow.” Farmers Weekly