The secondary legislation required to fully implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 was voted through on 13 May, meaning that England is set to become the first country in Europe to allow the commercial production and marketing of precision-bred crops.
With the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025 signed into law by Defra minister Daniel Zeichner this week, full implementation of the regulations is expected to follow in the autumn.
Once in force the regulations will allow farmers, scientists and food manufacturers to utilise gene-editing techniques in order to develop crops with traits that could have occurred naturally or through traditional breeding with greater precision.
The PROBITY project, led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) and funded by Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, brings together a consortium of 12 research institutes, universities, agri-tech companies and farming organisations with the goal of furthering the use of precision breeding in this country.
Commenting on the legislation passing into law, BOFIN managing director Tom Allen-Stevens said that it opened the door for PROBITY project participants to trial and eventually adopt crop varieties that are “more nutritious, resilient and environmentally sustainable”.
Allen-Stevens continued: “While the EU remains divided on precision breeding, our government has taken decisive action which will put English farmers and food producers on the front foot. It is a watershed moment for agricultural innovation in this country.
“We’re excited by the prospect of planting the first pre-commercial precision-bred cereals on English farms in spring 2026, pending PBO approval under the new regulations, and look forward to seeing these new varieties deliver real advantages for productivity and sustainability.”
Professor Nigel Halford of Rothamsted Research and technical lead for PROBITY, added: “It does feel like an historic moment to me, and I expect everyone who has been working on plant biotech while the UK/EU has been marginalised will feel the same. It is tremendously exciting, and I applaud everyone who has worked hard to get the legislation over the line. Most importantly it is a win for science and common sense.
“Whilst there was some concern that the secondary legislation on the Genetic Technologies (Precision Breeding) Act might get caught up in the UK/EU negotiations, the secondary legislation is now law, so any risk has passed. It always seemed unlikely that the UK government would allow the EU to dictate to us on food standards anyway, since that would put the UK in the position of having to comply with regulations it had no control over.”
