Gene editing techniques offer the potential to help bolster climate-friendly food production by helping crops better withstand pests and diseases, allowing them to better tolerate extreme weather events such as flooding and drought.
This, in turn, enables more efficient uses of inputs and resources on farm.
Bringing to life this key ask from the union’s Growing Together manifesto was NFU Cymru’s Crops & Horticulture Group Chair, Tom Rees.
The latest video in a series of pre-election digital case studies, the clip sees Mr Rees explain to Senedd candidates why the opportunities offered by precision breeding techniques needed to be made available to farmers in Wales.
Science-led approach
Speaking from the cab of his tractor while take a break from planting potatoes in Pembrokeshire, Mr Rees urged the next Welsh Government to take a science-led approach to deciding on policy in relation to precision breeding to ensure that farmers in Wales are not left behind in terms access to future technology.
NFU Cymru states that the next Welsh Government must create the right policy environment to allow Wales as a whole to realise the benefits of these new precision breeding techniques.
“Access to gene editing is vital for Welsh agriculture going forward. It’s the next stage of technology and it presents so much opportunity for the sector. It would allow us to become more efficient, reduce inputs and make us more environmentally friendly,” he said.
Cutting inputs
Relating it to his own enterprise, Mr Rees spoke of the exciting prospect of potato varieties which are able to better withstand - or even resist - blight, as well as crops which are more tolerant of insect and disease pressure, developments which should cut the amount of inputs he has to use over the course of a season.
He underlined that precision breeding techniques now offer the next step forward in the development of crop varieties for a world which continues to change, all while still ensuring that produce, such as the humble Welsh potato, still passes the taste test with consumers.
He said: “I think it’s so important that Welsh agriculture is at the forefront of this. Not only are we as farmers competing on a world market, but we’re also competing at a UK level, too. If we don’t have access to developing precision breeding techniques, it’s going to leave us at a disadvantage.
“I want to see the next Welsh Government take a science-based approach to gene editing, to look at the benefits it can bring and how by working with the industry and the fantastic research institutions we have here in Wales, it can help move the whole Welsh economy forward.”
