The results of Europe’s first ever field trial of a gene edited variety of wheat have shown a major reduction of the potential carcinogen acrylamide when the flour is baked.

The new wheat strain was gene-edited to lower the formation of asparagine in the wheat grains. When cooked, this amino acid is converted to acrylamide – a potential carcinogen that food processors are keen to control.

Levels of asparagine (acrylamide’s precursor) in the GE wheat were up to 50% lower than the control variety Cadenza.

The UK's new cabinet minister for science says that she will have a "relentless focus" on using research to make people's lives better.

Michelle Donelan told BBC News that a department focusing solely on science, technology and innovation would be "transformative".

This will be the first time that there has been a cabinet minister focused on science since 1994.

A new database of 19 insect genomes encompassing some of the most damaging pests worldwide has been made available in a bid to better target crop protection.

It includes some of the most common pest threats faced by UK farmers including wireworm, cabbage stem flea beetle and pollen beetle, as well as other globally important species.

It is hoped that the new database will help speed up the development of novel pest control approaches that can overcome resistance and create more nature friendly solutions to crop protection. The four-year Pest Genome Initiative was developed by Rothamsted Research along with the agriscience companies Syngenta and Bayer.

Scottish farmers are being blocked from growing healthier, cheaper food by SNP Ministers, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine Conservative MP Andrew Bowie has warned. The UK Government’s Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill will allow food producers to use precision breeding techniques with the aims of growing hardier crops, lowering carbon emissions, and benefiting public health.

Gene editing (GE) makes natural precision breeding of species faster and cheaper, and is unrelated to genetic modification which introduces DNA. GE has been backed by Scottish farming chiefs and world-leading research institutes such as James Hutton and Roslin.

However, SNP, Green and Labour MSPs refused consent for the provisions of the bill to be enacted in Scotland.

Research from Lancaster University – published last week by trade association, Solar Energy UK – has offered evidence that solar farms can enhance biodiversity on farmland.

Solar farms surveyed by ecologists showed an increase in the abundance of wildlife, especially pollinators like bees and butterflies that maintain biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

Pollinator habitats, such as wildflower meadows, can be established within solar farms and could increase the abundance of bumblebees by up to four times, said the report.

Government ambitions to boost food production while protecting nature risk ‘overpromising’ finite UK land due to a lack of robust data and disjointed policy making.

The new report, published today (1 February) by the Royal Society, calls for joined up government policy and better data to get the most out of UK land. At the heart of this should be a drive towards a more sophisticated, data-driven measurement of the multiple benefits that UK land provides.

The report recommends developing a shared and accessible evidence base, incorporating the full range of information necessary to support robust land use decisions.

The UK government risks "overpromising" finite land with its multiple ambitions on farming, nature and renewable energy, according to a report from scientific academy The Royal Society. It says an area the size of Northern Ireland could be needed to accommodate current policy targets by 2030.

Farming and forestry groups have welcomed the report and say it shows the need for a UK land-use framework. The report, from the UK National Academy of Sciences, concludes that current policies on land use are "disjointed" and there needs to be more innovative approaches to get the most out of our land.

"The UK does not have enough land for any of it to be non-productive," said the report's steering group chairman, Sir Charles Godfray, who is director of Oxford University's Oxford Martin School. "But when we say productive, we don't just mean producing food but producing public good, as well."

Defra has announced a five-year delivery plan to improve the the environment, which includes incentivising most farmers to adopt nature-friendly practices on at least 10 to 15% of their land by 2030.

The government has today published its Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, which includes actions to "halt and then reverse the decline in nature".

For the farming industry, the plan requires 65 to 80% of farmers to adopt nature friendly farming practices on at least 10-15% of their land by 2030. They will also be supported to create or restore 30,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2037 and 45,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2050.

Westminster is moving forward with its Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, whilst the Scottish Government is refusing to allow rules to be changed in Scotland.

A Legislative Consent Memorandum – which would see increased flexibility in modern plant breeding technologies across the UK – looks like being turned down by the Holyrood Government.

This bill would remove precision-bred organisms (PBOs) from the authorisation requirements under GMO legislation and instead bring in two mandatory notification systems for PBOs, one for non-marketing purposes (research and development) and one for marketing purposes.

Price rises in the UK slowed for a second month in a row but the cost of food including milk, cheese and eggs kept inflation at a 40-year high.

Inflation, which measures the rate of price rises, fell to 10.5% in the year to December from 10.7% in November.

Petrol and diesel costs eased last month but food prices continued to soar, reaching the highest since 1977.