LONDON (Reuters) - Britain must overcome an aversion to new technologies in parts of society as it seeks to combat the menace of climate change and help feed a rapidly growing world population, farmers' leader Peter Kendall said on Monday. "It is acutely painful to me to see how we have allowed our science base to run down. Part of the problem is the aversion to new technology and risk that has been fostered by a section of our society," Kendall, president of the National Farmers Union, told an annual conference.
By Nigel Hunt
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain must overcome an aversion to new technologies in parts of society as it seeks to combat the menace of climate change and help feed a rapidly growing world population, farmers' leader Peter Kendall said on Monday.
"It is acutely painful to me to see how we have allowed our science base to run down. Part of the problem is the aversion to new technology and risk that has been fostered by a section of our society," Kendall, president of the National Farmers Union, told an annual conference.
"No wonder the scientists and commercial companies do not see this country as a safe place to work or invest. The NFU has called for a new and intelligent debate about new technology. We must start that debate now," he said.
!ADVERTISEMENT!There has been significant opposition in Britain, as well as in several other European countries, to genetically modified crops. The UK has also seen rapid growth in production based on organic farming methods.
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Kendall also called for more public investment in research facilities, adding at a recent visit to the Institute of Animal Health in Compton "what I saw was world class scientists operating in third world facilities."
"It seems to me that developing the agricultural potential of this country to its fullest is actually a moral issue...Food security is a worldwide concern," he said.
Britain's farm minister Hilary Benn told the conference that farmers had a role in tackling climate change, providing habitats to help species adapt and taking advantage of opportunities for new crops.
"I am told that at least one farmer in the south-west (of England) is now growing olives, apricots and lemons," he said.
Benn said he was asking the ministry's chief scientific adviser Bob Watson to lead an investigation into priorities for agricultural research spending but defended the current state of British science.
"With respect we are not the laggards in science across the world. Britain is a world leader in science and remains a world leader in science," he said.
"Are we as a world going to need invest more in looking at the impact of climate change. Well of course we are going to do it," he added.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Peter Blackburn)
