The Scientific Solution

Written By: Sam Savage

Published Date: July 8, 2008 Last Edited: July 8, 2008

By Sixsmith, Rachel

DR JULIAN LITTLE, CHAIRMAN, AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY COUNCIL This season, hundreds of potato growers are tentatively watching their crops for signs of one of the most virulent strains of blight to have so far evolved in the UK – genotype 13.

Its presence has prompted the Potato Council to step up its Fight Against Blight (FAB) and Blightwatch alerting services and is a reminder of the increasing threat that diseases and pests pose to UK horticulture and agriculture.

Given these circumstances, a genetically modified (GM), blight- resistant crop could be a saviour to many potato growers – as could other kinds of GM crops to a number of growers.

But controversy still surrounds this technology – despite the fact that countries such as Canada and the US have been using it for years.

A blight-resistant potato crop is currently being trialled in Leeds, but it was vandalised two weeks ago. One man who was particularly disappointed to hear of this crime is Dr Julian Little.

As chairman of the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), it is his job to educate the sceptics on the benefits of GM food by promoting the role of biotechnology in sustainable agriculture. Given that GM crops have been accused of being “Frankenstein foods” over the past decade, this is not an easy task.

But Little insists that, despite the vandals, there has been a “fundamental change” in the public’s overall attitude towards GM.

“I have been lucky as I took up the role of chairman [in autumn last year] at a time when people’s views of these technologies changed considerably.

“The world is looking at reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture and trying to increase food production because of food security issues and inflation. So it’s now about whether or not we want GM to help. People are saying: ‘Which bits of this technology are we interested in?’

“If they want to safeguard crops from pests and diseases – or from drought and other stresses – then GM is one of the options.”

Little, who is also the public and government affairs manager for Bayer CropScience, could be right in his observation. Last month, the BBC ran a series of programmes on how GM foods can help us. Meanwhile, newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph are running articles on “Why We Need GM Foods”.

The current media interest no doubt stems from the alarming issue of global food security – a matter which, earlier this month, was the focus of the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations conference in Rome.

The resounding conclusion of this conference was that securing world food security, in light of the impact of climate change, may be one of the biggest challenges we face in this century.

So why is Europe still so reluctant to embrace these new technologies?

For the past 10 years, the EU has put a “freeze” on growing GM crops and, in 2004, the UK government announced that no GM crops would be grown in the country for the “foreseeable future”.

The EU is now under increasing pressure to ease up its policies, and some politicians are pro-GM. But the general consensus is that EU ministers are still uncomfortable with the idea.

Little explains what he believes is the root of this Europe-wide hostility: “GM technology came out at a time when there were a lot of scare stories [such as BSE] and when there was plenty of food available. Things like set-aside were introduced as ways of reducing production and so people were asking: ‘Why do we need a crop that yields more at a time when we are reducing crop yields?'”

He also blames non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Greenpeace for taking advantage of this Zeitgeist. “They were in a situation where they could see an opportunity to promote organic farming… and demonise some of the more scientific parts of agriculture.”

Little is a reminder that this technology stems not from monsters and demons but from scientists who want to help solve the world’s problems. “What most people are not aware of is that GM technologies have been a fact of life for over 10 years,” he says. “Some 12 million farmers are growing GM crops in areas well over twice the size of the UK [100 million hectares].”

So when are GM crops likely to become a regularfixture in the UK? “Sometime between now and never,” jokes Little. Traditionally, he says, the UK has been at the forefront of everything – but now, its scientific legacy is being held back by politics.

On a more serious note, he says: “I would anticipate that within five years we will be growing them relatively quickly. I say that with my fingers crossed, though, because NGOs have to take a more relative view.

“When you are talking about droughtresistant crops, that is just as relevant to farmers in East Anglia as farmers in East Africa. Places like that suffer from drought or too much water. Drought resistance is about keeping yields high whatever the weather. I hope we see these sorts of crops available by 2013.”

Rachel Sixsmith

1989 Graduates from Swansea University with a PhD in molecular plant pathology

1989 Joins May & Baker (later RhonePoulenc), “mainly working out how herbicides kill plants”

1990s Spends a couple of years in Leon, France, then returns to the UK to work on herbicide project management with Rhone-Poulenc and Aventis Crop Science, which is purchased by Bayer

2002 Moves to communications initially biotech communications, then agrochemicals

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