A one-year trial on genetically modified crops by the University of Oxford has been given the green light by Defra.

Trial plots are due to be planted this spring, with the study looking to improve yields and stress tolerance in wheat.

Independent non-departmental public body Acre (Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment,) has advised the government that the risks from the trial to human health and the environment are extremely low.

See also: Researchers granted £2.2m to trial gene-edited wheat

Trial plots will be grown at four different sites in England with harvesting planned for August and September.

The four approved release sites are John Innes Centre near Norwich, Niab near Cambridge, and Rothamsted Research sites at Harpenden and Bury St Edmunds.

None of the wheat grown in the trial will be allowed into the food chain or to be fed to livestock.

Defra farming minister Daniel Zeichner outlined in a letter to the University of Oxford a number of conditions which would need to be fulfilled for the trial to take place. These included:

• Restricting human access to the site during trials
• Planting a wheat pollen barrier of at least 2m width around the trial plots
• Not growing other cereals within 20m of the plots
• Putting measures in place to keep birds away from trial sites
• Cleaning all farm machinery, vehicles, and clothing thoroughly after entering the site
• Lightly tilling the plots in the autumn after harvest and leaving ground fallow over winter
• Disposing of GM crops through approved deep burial or incineration following trial.

Precision breeding

It was also confirmed last month by Defra secretary Steve Reed that secondary legislation on precision breeding would be brought to parliament by the end of March.

Mr Reed said: “Precision breeding offers huge potential to transform the plant breeding sector in England, enabling innovative products to be commercialised in years instead of decades.”