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Defra granted consent to Rothamsted Research to conduct a trial on GM wheat in 2012 and 2013.
Dr Tina Barsby, Chief Executive of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), said:
“We need to remain open-minded to every technology if we are going to successfully tackle the challenges of food security. This experiment will allow British scientists to properly evaluate resistance to an agricultural pest that is highly destructive to wheat stocks worldwide. It has been rigorously assessed for safety, and will permit testing under realistic field conditions. I welcome this decision.”
Prof Jonathan Jones, plant molecular biologist at the Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre, said:
“I’m very pleased to hear that another GM field test is going ahead, in this case to test a novel approach to reduce losses in our wheat crop from aphids, and the viruses they carry. Like the blight resistance trial, this use of the technology to reduce crop losses to disease, and reduce agrochemical applications, is exactly what we need for food security and to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture.”