Rational Agriculture

Another story which is not new, but nicely illustrates the problem with entrenched views and closed minds. Earlier this year, a team from the Brooms Barn research station (a division of Rothamsted Research, specialising in research on beet) published results of trials which showed that flexible management of GM herbicide tolerant sugar beet could provide a good food supply for farmland birds without compromising yield. There seems little wrong with that: surely most people would at least say this was interesting and worth doing more work on. Not so the zealots of the "Five Year Freeze" campaign, who are dead set against GM seeds.

The story was reported by the Independent on 19th January (see link) under the headline "GM sugar beet could aid wildlife, say researchers". Despite this, the first sentence reads "Campaigners battling genetically-modified crops today attacked a new study which claimed GM sugar beet could be beneficial to wildlife." It looks like the Indie couldn't quite bring itself to print a balanced article: it remains true to its prejudices.

By the way, the "Five Year Freeze" has had its way for more than five years now: time to call it a day?