GM potato trial at the John Innes Centre in Norwich.
Prof Jonathan Jones with a GM potato plant
picture by Adrian Judd
for EDP Mike Pollitt
Genetically modified potato trial near Norwich yields evidence of success
by MICHAEL POLLITT, Agricultural editor
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
5:09 PM
A trial plot of genetically-modified potatoes at Norfolk’s John Innes Centre has withstood the worst attack of late blight seen for decades.
Early results from the third year of a GM potato trial at Colney, near Norwich, has shown graphic evidence of success.
Prof Jonathan Jones, group leader at the Sainsbury Laboratory, said that late blight “was wreaking havoc in all the plants that are non-GM.”
Now, the project team plans to submit a report on the trials to the Royal Society’s proceedings journal later this year once the full results have been fully analysed.
The trial involved a total of 192 potato plants in June 2010, which was repeated last year, and again earlier this summer. Prof Jones said that the trial was designed to test the plant’s ability to withstand late potato blight.
- For the full story, see tomorrow’s Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News.
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13 comments
Honest John, We're rather getting off the subject of the article but since you raise again the question of Indian farmers suicides in relation to GM crops I should reply to your point. Originally, on another EDP thread (The one about John Innes Centre being given $9.8m grant by the Gates Foundation) someone called nrg said "millions of Indian farmers are commiting suicide because of GM crops". I had simply questioned this figure of millions. Your post mentions 200,000 suicides amongst Indian farmers over 10 years. The International Food Policy Research Institute has done a report on this. "What we argue is that it's far more complex than simply adopting a technology," lead author Guillaume Gruère told New Scientist magazine. The report identifies a lack of financial support for farmers as a key problem leading many to borrow money from loan sharks at crippling interest rates. The IFPRI is a thinktank funded by governments, private foundations and international and regional organisations. The researchers examined data from a variety of sources on suicide rates among farmers and on their costs and yields from crops. Although there were initially some catastrophic failures of Bt cotton varieties for some farmers after their introduction the report said that conventional varieties did equally badly because of drought - particularly in Andra Pradesh and Maharashtra. I just think we have to be careful about what we say. There are many reasons why many GM crops have been found wanting, but let'd be honest and not exaggerate things especially when talking about human suicides. I just think the statement "millions of Indian farmers are commiting suicide because of GM crops" cannot be stood up to scrutiny.
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Roger Mainwood
Monday, August 13, 2012
To LARSON.E. WHIPSNADE : And the first person to use the word "luddites" should also get one of your coconuts. Ah, I see you've beaten them to it!
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Roger Mainwood
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Multinational biotechnology giants like Monsanto and Syngenta promised farmers that GM crops would bring larger yields for less money. They didn't; many of the crops wound up failing and in doing so, left millions of Indian farmers with virtually nothing, or less. "One farmer every 30 minutes (commits suicide) in India now, and sometimes three in one family," Indian journalist Palagummi Sainath told the Independent. With nowhere to turn and nothing left to lose, many farmers simply drank their pesticides. And since untold numbers of such suicides go unreported, the real number could be much higher. Other factors have been blamed for years of poor agricultural production in India - bad policy, years of drought - but just about every problem appears directly connected to the introduction of GM crops in the 1990s. "Every suicide can be linked to Monsanto," scientist Vandana Shiva told the paper.
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Honest John
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Roger Mainwood, the previous article closed the comments before I could reply. "Much of the common Indian seed stock turned from saveable heirloom varieties to patented, genetically-modified (GM) varieties that expire after a single use and require the application of expensive and cumbersome pesticides in order to grow, which plunged many Indian farmers into abject poverty," we reported. "And nearly 25 years later, the devastating effects of this corporate takeover of Indian agriculture has resulted in countless suicides, 200,000 of which have occurred just in the past ten years." It's no surprise to see pro GMO comments from those who support incineration, I hope you all have flu jabs too.
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Honest John
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Bookworm , could it be possible that they see you coming ?
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LARSON.E. WHIPSNADE
Thursday, August 9, 2012
***Is this Genetic Modification or Cisgenesis? Discuss..*** . It is cisgenesis , involving the insertion of a gene from a wild potato plant. Whatever it is the luddites won't like it. The first person to use the simplistic cliche " frankenstein food " gets a coconut , on the head hopefully.
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LARSON.E. WHIPSNADE
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Is this Genetic Modification or Cisgenesis? Discuss...
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Roger Mainwood
Thursday, August 9, 2012
i keep buying spuds with mushy watery middles and have to bin them.Farmers know they are blighted. irish potato famine rides again.
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bookworm
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Conventionally bred Sarpo potatoes keep blight free well into October. We are only at August the 8th.
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Roger Mainwood
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
The first one to use the simplistic cliche " big pharma " will get a coconut.
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LARSON.E. WHIPSNADE
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Less chemicals sprayed on the crop , higher yields and cheaper prices .... what`s to dislike ? Coke of Norfolk led a revolution in farming , no doubt he had his critics who wouldn`t accept modern methods .
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dragonfly
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Blight resistant, conventionally bred potatoes have been grown for decades in Hungary, and they are ready for the market, so why all this genetic manipuilation of our foods? Well, its the likes of Lord Sainsbury and Bill Gates who seem to like flogging a dead horse. People who know what they are buying have rejected GM foods. The research is being carried on regardless of what we, or third world farmers want, so they can exploit consumers with unwanted patented genetic manipulations, for market shares for profits. Farmers in developing countries want to save seeds for next year, GM seeds prevent them from doing that. This cynical ignorance of consumers, by the backers of this research, despite the huge percentage of people rejecting it, despite their money invested indoctrinating school children and prepare future markets, is a huge waste of time money and effort. Never in history, has science been so blinkered and lead into the doldrums as with the development of GM.
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ingo wagenknecht
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Well done-how could anyone object to this modification which could reduce the need for fungicides and make the potato a more viable food crop in warm damp climates. This year even crops which have been sprayed with fungicides as many times as recommended have been succumbing to blight so presumably the quality and storage potential of maincrop potatoes could be affected. Over fed Britain,which pays so much more to the supermarkets than their food costs to produce, will probably not notice if prices are affected. Imagine if our food security relied on the potato in the way Ireland did in the 1840s when blight ravaged the crop in successive wet summers like the one we are currently experiencing.In modern times fewer fungicide applications reduces the energy used to produce the crop.
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Daisy Roots
Wednesday, August 8, 2012