Soil Association comment re: Gates funding to develop GM cereal

15 July 2012

The BBC has today [15 July 2012] reported £6.4m funding from the Gates Foundation, first announced in June, for the John Innes Centre in Norwich 'to test the feasibility of developing cereal crops capable of fixing nitrogen as an environmentally-sustainable approach for small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to increase maize yields.'

Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, commented:

"This grant is dwarfed by the £45 million of UK taxpayers' money already given to the John Innes Centre. Researchers working on the possibility of creating Nitrogen fixing crops admit that any possible practical application is decades away, and some genetic experts, who are not working on this project, say that genetic engineering cannot actually deliver commercial crops that will fix Nitrogen. 

"In the meantime, most international scientists agree that agroecological solutions, shown by other UK researchers to be capable of increases yields in countries in Africa by up to 100%, are available right now. It may not make for simple headlines, but getting on and delivering real solutions that are already available is what will make a real difference now to the availability of food in Africa."