China has approved the safety of gene-edited wheat for the first time as Beijing cautiously moves forward with commercial growing of genetically modified food crops.

China has in the past year ramped up approvals of genetically modified (GM) corn and soybean seeds that are higher-yielding and resistant to insects and herbicide to secure its food security, but the uptake remains slow and cautious due to concerns about the impact to health and ecology.

The approval for the gene-edited disease-resistant wheat is seen as a milestone, as the ingredient - used to make pasta, noodles and bread - is predominantly grown in China for food consumption. China is the world's largest wheat producer and consumer.

France unveiled on Monday a revised plan to halve pesticide use in the European Union’s biggest agricultural producer, pledging to adopt an EU indicator and boost research into alternatives in a nod to grievances voiced in farmer protests this year.

Environmental regulation was one of the main factors behind protests that swept France and parts of Europe, unsettling governments in the run-up to European elections. The French authorities have responded with extra aid and plans to simplify environmental rules, echoing steps taken at EU level. Ecology associations have attacked a watering down of European standards.

The new plan aims to halve pesticide use by 2030 compared to the 2011-2013 period on the basis of an EU indicator, called HRI1, which takes into account the chemical’s toxicity. The previous indicator, called NODU, applied by France simply calculated the volume of pesticides per hectare. Under the new indicator, France has already achieved a reduction of about 30 per cent, the government says.

Europe is “sleep walking” into becoming dependent on Russian fertiliser, just as it did with gas, says one of the largest producers of crop nutrients.

Nitrogen fertilisers, which are important to plant growth, are made using natural gas and Russia is exporting more of it to Europe, replacing some of the gas banned by the EU, said Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Yara International, one of the world’s largest producers of nitrogen-based mineral fertilisers.

“Fertiliser is the new gas,” Holsether said. “It is a paradox that the aim is to reduce Europe’s dependency on Russia, and then now we are sleepwalking into handing over critical food and fertilising power to Russia.”

Scientists are trying to create a new type of bread that is just as healthy as wholemeal but looks and tastes like its white counterpart.

Aimed at lovers of white bread, the project has been funded by the government to improve the health benefits of UK food.

The researchers plan to add small amounts of peas, beans and cereals to the bread mix, as well as bran and wheat germ that are normally removed from white flour.

Conservation actions are effective at reducing global biodiversity loss, according to a major study.

International researchers spent 10 years looking at measures, from hatching Chinook salmon to eradication of invasive algae.

The authors said their findings offered a "ray of light" for those working to protect threatened animals and plants.

Months of relentless rain has moved food security right up the political agenda and put farmers in a stronger position with policymakers, according to former Climate Change Committee chairman and past Defra secretary Lord Deben.

Addressing the recent Future of Farming conference at Plumpton College in East Sussex, he said one of the few certainties in farming was that winters were going to get wetter and summers hotter – which both had implications for food production.

“The consequence is that there is going to be a greater pressure on food production that we have ever seen in our lifetimes,” he said. “The truth of the matter is that food security is absolutely central.”

Agri-tech is set to accelerate innovation and growth in the UK's agriculture and food industries, as over half of UK food industry businesses (51%) say adopting new technologies is a key business priority as they look ahead to the next five years, while one in four (25%) agriculture business leaders say it's a top priority. Nearly half of decision-makers in the combined agri-food industries (48%) say there are stages in their supply chain where innovation or investment are lacking.

The findings are from the new Future of Agri-Tech Report that surveyed 200 R&D and technology decision-makers in the agriculture and food industries to mark the launch of the new UK Agri-Tech Centre, the UK's largest dedicated agri-tech organisation. The UK Agri-Tech Centre commissioned the research to better comprehend agri-food businesses' priorities in order to inform its strategy to drive agri-innovation at unprecedented levels.

Buyers in the UK are increasingly turning to vegetable imports following a tough year of weather for domestic growers. Jack Ward, chief executive of the British Growers Association (BGA), told Farmers Weekly the past few months of rain on top of last year’s difficult spring and wet summer had “set the tone” for supply.

Crops such as cauliflowers, cabbages and carrots have begun to run out sooner than they usually would, and the wait for new season crops to come in is expected to be longer because the wet weather is holding back planting.

Mr Ward said growers needed a “statement of intent” from the government to show it believed the fresh produce sector was important, noting that there was a need for more support with capital investment, research and development, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and a multi-year seasonal labour scheme.

The development of controlled environment agriculture and vertical farming technologies needs to accelerate to help boost UK food security, researchers say.

Scientists at Aberystwyth University have started a new project to research vertical farming, the process of producing food by growing it in stacked layers within controlled indoor environments.

This method helps farmers to produce more on the same amount of land and reduce the environmental impact, and to avoid the future challenge presented by extreme weather events.

A London-based agri-tech company has been awarded £1.5m by the UK Space Agency to fund a project to develop an in-orbit space farm.

The agency, sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has allocated grant funding to 11 projects across the UK, including the space farm.

Developed by Vertical Future, a vertical farming and technology manufacturer, the project will adapt its existing controlled-environment agriculture systems into a prototype for low-Earth orbit.