• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE TO BYLINES SCOTLAND
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Bylines Scotland
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Bylines Scotland Breaking News
    • Europe
    • King Charles III
    • Queen Elizabeth II
    • Scotland
    • War in Ukraine
    • World
    Go Dharmic charity with Martin Dover

    Putting compassion into action – Coronation Champion Award winner Martin Dover leads the way.

    Police Investigation

    There’s been a murder

    Heart of NHS

    Back to the future

    Women health inequalities represented by a heart and a cardiogram

    Women’s Health in Scotland: challenges and progress

    Oil in Scotland

    Oil, Margaret Thatcher and Dinnae Mess Wi Us

    Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

    Scotland’s Road to Devolution

    Poverty in Scotland

    Poverty in Scotland 2022

    NHS Scotland

    A Healthcare System that delivers for people?

    Scottish political calls

    Liberté, égalité, fraternité

    Trending Tags

    • Democracy
    • Devolution
    • Brexit
    • Ukraine
  • Politics
    • All
    • Council Areas
    • Europe
    • Holyrood
    • Liz Truss
    • Rest of UK
    • Tories
    • United Kingdom
    • Westminster
    • World
    UK voting system First-past-the-post

    Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

    Scottish Parliament Party seats

    People like to back the winning side.

    Post Election Blues

    Post-election blues

    Labour Anas Sarwar cartoon

    The challenge for Labour in Scotland

    Hard Labour

    Hard Labour

    Edinburgh Military Tattoo mixed with EU symbol

    Great visionaries brought us two great institutions that made life better for Scots and Scotland

    Westminster Government

    Regimes are at their most dangerous in their death throes 

    Rupert Murdoch portrait

    Why Rupert Murdoch should support Scotland’s independence.

    Demonstrator on the streets of London

    Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

    Trending Tags

    • Equality
    • Johnson
    • Scottish National Party
  • Business
    • All
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Corporations
    • Energy
    • Finance
    • Fishing
    • Natural Resources
    • Shipbuilding
    • Trade
    • Transport
    • Workers
    A crane in a port

    Forth and Clyde Drowned by the Thames and Mersey

    Scotland's green Freeport's

    Green freeports – gateway to sustainability or greenwashing with a tax avoidance cherry?

    Salmon covered by sea lice

    Anyone for sea lice risotto?

    Bakkafrost Barge

    The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

    Fish farm in Scotland

    A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

    Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

    How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

    Dead salmons

    Death in our waters

    Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

    Fish Farming in Scotland 

    Offshore wind farm

    How will local communities get a fair share of record investment from offshore wind farms?

    Trending Tags

    • Health
      • All
      • Assisted dying
      • Covid
      • Influenza
      • Polio virus
      • Respiratory
      • Scientific Research
      Illustration of an antibiotic running away from bacteria depicting antibiotic resistance

      Antibiotic resistance – a major global public health threat

      Slogan Still Home from Clinically Vulnerable Families group

      Covid-19 lockdown continues for many in the UK

      Tree representing lungs

      Where are the areas in Scotland most affected by lung conditions?

      Health service

      Funding the Scottish Health Service 

      A goose surrounded by avian flu

      Who is knocking our doors? A putative new pandemic?

      A woman walking in a field with a jerrycan of water on her back, spraying water on the vegetation

      The Ethiopia Medical Project

      Healthcare word seen in a scrabble

      “Leave no one behind” – the Health Foundation’s report into health inequalities in Scotland 2023.

      Sign saying NHS Greater Galsgow & Clyde in front of a hospital building

      Concern over patients waiting in corridors for free beds at Glasgow Superhospital

      A hospital corridor with trolleys on the sides.

      Glasgow hospitals halt non-urgent operations due to pressure

      Trending Tags

      • Environment
        • All
        • Air Pollution
        • Biology
        • Climate Change
        • Wildfires
        Balblair substation

        Desecrating the glens: the relentless march of the industrial triffids

        Salmon covered by sea lice

        Anyone for sea lice risotto?

        Diagram representing circular economy

        Local Authorities, communities and the circular economy

        Bakkafrost Barge

        The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

        Fish farm in Scotland

        A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

        Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

        How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

        Dead salmons

        Death in our waters

        Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

        Fish Farming in Scotland 

        Ardnish wildfire by Leslie Barrie, CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons'

        Fire threats in the Scottish countryside

        Trending Tags

        • Opinion
        No Result
        View All Result
        • Home
        • News
          • All
          • Bylines Scotland Breaking News
          • Europe
          • King Charles III
          • Queen Elizabeth II
          • Scotland
          • War in Ukraine
          • World
          Go Dharmic charity with Martin Dover

          Putting compassion into action – Coronation Champion Award winner Martin Dover leads the way.

          Police Investigation

          There’s been a murder

          Heart of NHS

          Back to the future

          Women health inequalities represented by a heart and a cardiogram

          Women’s Health in Scotland: challenges and progress

          Oil in Scotland

          Oil, Margaret Thatcher and Dinnae Mess Wi Us

          Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

          Scotland’s Road to Devolution

          Poverty in Scotland

          Poverty in Scotland 2022

          NHS Scotland

          A Healthcare System that delivers for people?

          Scottish political calls

          Liberté, égalité, fraternité

          Trending Tags

          • Democracy
          • Devolution
          • Brexit
          • Ukraine
        • Politics
          • All
          • Council Areas
          • Europe
          • Holyrood
          • Liz Truss
          • Rest of UK
          • Tories
          • United Kingdom
          • Westminster
          • World
          UK voting system First-past-the-post

          Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

          Scottish Parliament Party seats

          People like to back the winning side.

          Post Election Blues

          Post-election blues

          Labour Anas Sarwar cartoon

          The challenge for Labour in Scotland

          Hard Labour

          Hard Labour

          Edinburgh Military Tattoo mixed with EU symbol

          Great visionaries brought us two great institutions that made life better for Scots and Scotland

          Westminster Government

          Regimes are at their most dangerous in their death throes 

          Rupert Murdoch portrait

          Why Rupert Murdoch should support Scotland’s independence.

          Demonstrator on the streets of London

          Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

          Trending Tags

          • Equality
          • Johnson
          • Scottish National Party
        • Business
          • All
          • Agriculture
          • Aviation
          • Corporations
          • Energy
          • Finance
          • Fishing
          • Natural Resources
          • Shipbuilding
          • Trade
          • Transport
          • Workers
          A crane in a port

          Forth and Clyde Drowned by the Thames and Mersey

          Scotland's green Freeport's

          Green freeports – gateway to sustainability or greenwashing with a tax avoidance cherry?

          Salmon covered by sea lice

          Anyone for sea lice risotto?

          Bakkafrost Barge

          The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

          Fish farm in Scotland

          A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

          Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

          How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

          Dead salmons

          Death in our waters

          Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

          Fish Farming in Scotland 

          Offshore wind farm

          How will local communities get a fair share of record investment from offshore wind farms?

          Trending Tags

          • Health
            • All
            • Assisted dying
            • Covid
            • Influenza
            • Polio virus
            • Respiratory
            • Scientific Research
            Illustration of an antibiotic running away from bacteria depicting antibiotic resistance

            Antibiotic resistance – a major global public health threat

            Slogan Still Home from Clinically Vulnerable Families group

            Covid-19 lockdown continues for many in the UK

            Tree representing lungs

            Where are the areas in Scotland most affected by lung conditions?

            Health service

            Funding the Scottish Health Service 

            A goose surrounded by avian flu

            Who is knocking our doors? A putative new pandemic?

            A woman walking in a field with a jerrycan of water on her back, spraying water on the vegetation

            The Ethiopia Medical Project

            Healthcare word seen in a scrabble

            “Leave no one behind” – the Health Foundation’s report into health inequalities in Scotland 2023.

            Sign saying NHS Greater Galsgow & Clyde in front of a hospital building

            Concern over patients waiting in corridors for free beds at Glasgow Superhospital

            A hospital corridor with trolleys on the sides.

            Glasgow hospitals halt non-urgent operations due to pressure

            Trending Tags

            • Environment
              • All
              • Air Pollution
              • Biology
              • Climate Change
              • Wildfires
              Balblair substation

              Desecrating the glens: the relentless march of the industrial triffids

              Salmon covered by sea lice

              Anyone for sea lice risotto?

              Diagram representing circular economy

              Local Authorities, communities and the circular economy

              Bakkafrost Barge

              The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

              Fish farm in Scotland

              A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

              Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

              How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

              Dead salmons

              Death in our waters

              Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

              Fish Farming in Scotland 

              Ardnish wildfire by Leslie Barrie, CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons'

              Fire threats in the Scottish countryside

              Trending Tags

              • Opinion
              No Result
              View All Result
              Bylines Scotland
              No Result
              View All Result
              Home Business Agriculture

              GM crops and the future of farming

              Are GM crops the villain, saviour, or neither? Is there a better way to safeguard and future-proof the food we grow?

              Dr Richard MilnebyDr Richard Milne
              09-10-2022 07:00
              in Agriculture
              Image Hanno Böck, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

              Image Hanno Böck, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

              177
              VIEWS
              Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

              Could GM crops be making a quiet comeback? When the technology first arrived in the 1980s, it faced a huge backlash, and GM crops have never been grown in the UK except for tightly controlled experimental trials. But with the world population growing, the climate changing and food security becoming increasingly precarious, will GM crops be the thing that saves us? I am neither an advocate nor an opponent of GM crops, so this article aims to examine them from a neutral scientific perspective.

              GM crops

              In September, Professor Keith Lindsey from Durham University gave a stimulating and even-handed talk on GM crops for the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. He touched on the PR disaster that accompanied the introduction of GM crops to a European audience by the company Monsanto (regarded as a corporate super-villain by green campaigners of the time), which made the mistake of pushing forward the technology without any thought for whether the public wanted it.

              The backlash was immediate, uniting the unlikely bedfellows of the right-wing tabloid press (‘Frankenstein foods!’) and environmental groups, driving public opinion that would otherwise have been largely indifferent to coalesce against the technology. The result was not quite an outright ban, but a regulatory process in Europe that is so convoluted and challenging that only one GMO has ever been approved for human consumption, a type of maize that was only grown in five countries. Even so, some think the approval process still not rigorous enough. Meanwhile, large quantities of GM crops are consumed by farm animals, none of whom read the Daily Mail and are hence largely unconcerned about it.

              Now however, the right-wing press is too busy defending the indefensible (Brexit and the Tories) and fighting their culture war to bother much about GM. Meanwhile prominent environmentalist Mark Lynas has reversed his opposition to GM, stating like a true scientist that evidence has made him change his mind. The WWF, which wanted a full moratorium on GM technology in 1999, now takes a more nuanced position and drops in a non-critical mention of GM technology in a lengthy article on sustainable food production. This parallels to some extend what has happened with nuclear power, which environmentalists and others may not like very much, but now is vastly preferable to climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

              Here are some examples of GM crops, and differences in their regulation

              European regulations treat all GM crops the same, but the USA considers them on a case-by-case basis, e.g. considering whether the specific gene inserted might be toxic or allergenic to humans. For once, I think the USA has got it entirely right. Let us consider the three examples of GM crops Prof Lindsey’s talk highlighted, all of which are now commercially grown outside of Europe.

              First, there are GM soybeans that have been modified to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup). That means that fields of it can be sprayed with glyphosate to kill all other plants, leaving the soybeans standing and benefitting the farmer. On the plus side, glyphosate supposedly does not last more than six months in the soil and should not get into groundwater, but increased amounts of the herbicide have been detected in soybeans from this crop. So, I can’t say I’m enamoured of any advance that has greatly increased the spraying of poison into the environment.

              Modifying crops to make them pest-resistant, however, has the opposite effect, reducing pesticide use. Instead of spraying insecticides onto a field of crops, killing any and all insects in the vicinity, genetically modifying a crop so that it makes that insecticide itself ensures that only species that try to eat its leaves will be affected (it won’t get into the nectar). Meanwhile, modifying tomatoes to soften more slowly is a boon to developing world farmers who have a much better chance of getting them to market or even to western supermarkets.

              So the first example arguably leads to environmental harm, but the second to environmental benefits, and the third to less food waste. Of course, GM technology is not inherently evil, so its products should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

              The two great fears around GM are both greatly exaggerated

              What of the great fears about GM crops? The first is that they are bad for our health. But as a biologist, I can tell you that this is a vast exaggeration. If you add a particular gene to a plant, it will affect your health only if that gene makes a harmful product. For example, you might not want to eat a plant that contains insecticides, but we do that all the time with all the spraying that happens unless we eat organic. Even organic crops still include those natural insecticides that plants have evolved over millions of years.

              The other fear is GM crops might escape into the wild or ‘pollute the countryside‘. Non-native invasive species are a research topic of mine and two facts are pertinent. First, we already have terrible problems with invasive species all over the world, and none of these are GM, though a few like the Rhododendrons in Britain have been altered by natural or intentional crossing with other cultivated species. So, even if GM crops did escape, they would merely be a small addition to an existing problem.

              Second, centuries of conventional breeding have changed our crops so much, relative to their wild progenitors that they have little or no chance of establishing themselves in the wild. They are like pampered, fat and de-clawed house cats. Individual plants of wheat and oilseed rape are quite commonly seen on roadsides and other disturbed spots in the UK seeded from nearby farms or seed dropped by people but they never manage to form lasting populations, because they can’t compete with wild plants. GM rape has apparently established in a few places in the USA, but as it only differs from non-GM rape in herbicide resistance, it will only have an unnatural advantage where herbicide is applied.

              So it might be a bit of a weed for farmers, but this is hardly an environmental apocalypse and insignificant compared to the numerous highly invasive alien plants wreaking havoc worldwide. Those plant species that escape into the wild and become invasive always come from gardens, and tend to be species barely altered from their wild progenitors, like giant hogweed or Japanese knotweed. In short, GM crops present, at most, a tiny threat to human health and the environment.

              Can GM crops actually help mankind?

              So, GM crops are not the monsters they are made out to be. But how much can they help humanity in the face of climate instability and a growing population? Two issues are pertinent here. First, GM crops are often costly and time-consuming to bring to market, and ironically this is increasingly more because of the regulation process than the actual scientific development. This may make it less likely, for example, that pest-proof GM crops are made available to subsistence farmers in poor parts of the world, where they could make a real and direct contribution to minimising world hunger. One GM crop that was developed specifically for humanitarian purposes was golden rice, which has been modified to produce vitamin A in its rice grains and hence help tackle vitamin deficiencies in places where rice is a staple crop. But even this has faced severe regulatory hurdles which, its advocates claim, have cost lives.

              While golden rice perhaps shows the best of what GM crops can be, it also highlights their limitations. The whole GM process is geared towards solving one very particular problem in any given crop, be it resistance to pests, speed of ripening, or an absence of vitamin A. Meanwhile, climate change, alien (non-GM) species, emerging pathogens and other environmental issues are throwing multiple problems at us, at an alarming rate, and in ways we cannot always predict. GM technology is already being used, for example, to develop drought-resistant crops. But that won’t protect those crops against other extreme events.

              Environment

              Out & about with Charlie Mac: Cycling to the heart of Scotland – the National Cycle Network 7

              byCharlie McCarthy
              7 October 2022

              This could well be the future of farming

              Perhaps, therefore, we need to look elsewhere for our salvation. Monoculture farming (a single crop alone in a field, with all other plants and usually most or all animals unwelcome) has been de rigueur for over a century in the so-called ‘developed world’. Moreover, usually everything in the field is the same cultivar, or even the same genotype. This means that any pest or disease that can attack one of them, can attack them all. It also means that every individual requires the exact same resources as every other, putting a great strain on resources within the field, which usually has to be addressed via fertilizer. Other problems with monoculture include soil loss, which could seriously threaten global food supplies by 2050.

              Polyculture and permaculture (both overlapping the term agroecology) address these issues. Polyculture means, very simply, growing more than one crop together, or intercropping. For example, legumes actually fertilize the soil around them via special bacteria-containing nodes on their roots, so if you grow them beside another crop, the other crop benefits.

              There is one remarkable system developed by collaboration between British and African scientists, which uses a legume called Desmodium to enhance maize production. Though not edible to humans, this species provides four separate benefits: it increases soil fertility, emits chemicals that deter pest insects from entering the field, suppresses a parasitic weed called Striga, and eventually can be fed to cattle as fodder. Elsewhere, long-established traditional farming practices combine rice production with ducks or fish, where in each case the animal provides first pest control then later human food.

              This is a better way to produce food

              Permaculture takes this further. The term means ‘permanent agriculture‘ and the idea is to build a community of plants and associated animals (most but not all of these animals come in from the wild), which is effectively self-sustaining. Nature abhors a monoculture almost as much as it does a vacuum. And therefore, much energy is expended keeping out weeds and pests.

              Permaculture, by contrast, mimics a natural ecosystem, with the crucial difference that most or all plants present are selected for their value, directly or indirectly, to humanity. Some might be there solely to attract birds or hoverflies, each of which will help keep aphids and other potential pests under control. Crucially, a stable man-made ecosystem built around perennial and woody plants will be far more resilient to extreme weather events than a monoculture.

              These are not magic bullets. Permaculture requires time and skill to set up, and the more plants you have present, the more impractical it becomes to mass harvest them by machine, as happens in monoculture fields. However, human labour is hardly in short supply, and harvesting edible products grown locally is good for the soul. Combining a four-day week with encouraging folk to grow and harvest food in this manner once a week, would improve both quality of life and food security. I fully recommend learning more about permaculture to anyone looking for more contentment in their lives.

              Polyculture and permaculture need to be funded the same as GM

              But what of feeding the world? Scaling up permaculture farming remains a huge challenge, not least because what to grow depends so much on the local conditions, whereas modern agriculture is capable of successfully imposing monoculture crops on almost any landscape. The future may lie in finding ways to form polyculture and ultimately permaculture farms on a large scale, with harvesting conducted by intelligent solar-powered drones.

              If this sounds fanciful, look afresh at conventional agriculture. Its heavy reliance on fossil fuels and chemicals would not be sustainable, even if there were not also issues with vulnerability. Clearly we cannot just bin monocultures straight away because we need the quantities of food they provide, but equally we cannot go on as we are for much longer.

              Hence while I have no particular issues with GM technology, I worry that it may be a distraction and that scientists may focus their resources in the wrong place. Yes, where a vital crop is under severe attack from a particular pest or pathogen species, GM might save it. However, many of the benefits GM can provide can also be acquired much more cheaply and with additional gains through a polyculture approach – e.g. golden rice would not be needed if rice was intercropped with something that naturally produces vitamin A.

              I believe that if the challenge of scaling up polyculture and permaculture farming received the same amount of money and research expertise that is currently aimed at GM, it would take us a very long way towards safeguarding and future-proofing food.


              We need your help! The press in our country is dominated by billionaire-owned media, many offshore and avoiding paying tax. We are a citizen journalism publication but still have significant costs. If you believe in what we do, please consider subscribing to the Bylines Gazette 🙏

              Tags: Farming
              Previous Post

              Creating a lasting force for good in an independent Scotland

              Next Post

              It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, so let’s celebrate Scotland

              Dr Richard Milne

              Dr Richard Milne

              Dr Richard Milne is a lecturer in plant evolutionary biology, and has won several awards for his offbeat teaching style. He has co-authored over 80 scientific papers, and one factual book about rhododendrons. A keen plant-hunter, he is currently on a mission to photograph the entire UK flora to create an identification tool for beginners. Away from science and plants, he is the author of the Bojo’s Woe Show Cartoon series and the novel Misjudgement Day. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and son.

              Related Posts

              No Content Available
              Next Post
              Image Mick man34, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

              It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, so let’s celebrate Scotland

              PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CROWDFUNDER

              Subscribe to our newsletters
              CHOOSE YOUR NEWS
              Follow us on social media
              CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORMS
              Download our app
              ALL OF BYLINES IN ONE PLACE
              Subscribe to our gazette
              CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SUSTAINABILITY
              Make a monthly or one-off donation
              DONATE NOW
              Help us with our hosting costs
              SIGN UP TO SITEGROUND
              We are always looking for citizen journalists
              WRITE FOR US
              Volunteer as an editor, in a technical role, or on social media
              VOLUNTEER FOR US
              Something else?
              GET IN TOUCH
              Previous slide
              Next slide

              LATEST

              Go Dharmic charity with Martin Dover

              Putting compassion into action – Coronation Champion Award winner Martin Dover leads the way.

              28 May 2023
              UK voting system First-past-the-post

              Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

              27 May 2023
              Police Investigation

              There’s been a murder

              26 May 2023
              Brexit impact illustration

              Brexit Stock Take

              24 May 2023

              MOST READ

              UK voting system First-past-the-post

              Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

              27 May 2023
              Brexit impact illustration

              Brexit Stock Take

              24 May 2023
              King Charles Coronation and the United Kingdom Flag

              Coronation Chickens … coming home to roost

              29 April 2023
              Police Investigation

              There’s been a murder

              26 May 2023

              BROWSE BY TAGS

              Brexit Christmas ClimateChange Covid Covid19 Culture Defence Democracy Devolution election FishFarms Glasgow Halloween health History Holyrood independence IndyRef2 Johnson Journalism Labour LGBT+ Liz Truss Monarchy NATO NHS Nicola Sturgeon politics Poverty Pro-EU Public Health Putin Russia Sars-CoV-2 Scotland Security and Defence shipbuilding SNP Sunak Tories Tourism Twitter Ukraine UK Supreme Court War in Ukraine
              Bylines Scotland

              We are a not-for-profit citizen journalism publication. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Scotland and beyond.

              Bylines Scotland is a trading brand of Bylines Network Limited, which is a partner organisation to Byline Times.

              Learn more about us

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Network
              • About
              • Authors
              • Contact
              • Donate
              • Privacy

              © 2023 Bylines Scotland. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Home
              • News
                • Scotland
                • World
              • Politics
                • Council Areas
                • Europe
                • Holyrood
                • Rest of UK
                • Westminster
              • Business
                • Fishing
                • Trade
                • Transport
              • Health
              • Environment
                • Climate Change
              • Opinion
              • Donate
              • Newsletter sign up
              CROWDFUNDER

              © 2023 Bylines Scotland. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              Welcome Back!

              Login to your account below

              Forgotten Password?

              Retrieve your password

              Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

              Log In