Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to protect research and development, and a path to production and sale, of precision bred products.

Precision breeding remains subject to ongoing negotiations between the UK and the EU as part of the SPS agreement. The EU has however accepted there will need to be some areas where we retain our own rules. This includes research and development where we have confirmed that we will continue our regulatory approach to support science and innovation in the UK. Defra has also funded a £12.5 million Farming Innovation Programme competition specifically to support innovation in precision breeding, and Defra’s Genetic Improvement Networks Platform provides £15 million to support precision breeding for priority traits in key crops.