Published: 09-02-2026
As the EU revises rules for gene-engineered plants, debate centres on safety, traceability and labelling. Overlooked is patent law’s role in reshaping who can breed plants, on what terms, and with what legal certainty overall.
Resources
FarmingRecommended Reading
Our resources sections bring together a range of interesting articles, reports and papers across several different themes. Follow the link to get started.
Recommendations change often so visit regularly.
Farming in the Age of Algorithms: Who Decides How Farmers Think?
Published: 04-01-2026
As farming knowledge shifts from fields to algorithms, digital tools reshape how farmers sense, analyse and act. Whether skills are eroded or strengthened depends not on technology itself, but on design, governance, and farmer inclusion.
Towards Farmer-Led Technological Sovereignty
Published: 07-11-2025
Farmers don’t want to be separated from their land by screens and algorithms – they became farmers precisely to work outdoors, build community and nurture soil health. The question is: what digital tools actually help farmers who are trying to grow food sustainably while making a living?
Can Cultured Meat Learn the Lessons of GM?
Published: 01-10-2024
The Royal Agricultural University’s Cultured Meat & Farmers project was a two-year study that examined the potential impact of cultured meat on UK farmers. Now that it’s wrapping up, what did we learn?
What ‘Should’ – If Anything – Gene Editing Do For Us?
Published: 17-06-2024
Who do the ‘techno-optimists’ and gene-editing boosters speak for? As Prof David Christian Rose argued at a recent conference it isn’t necessarily farmers or citizens.
What Do Agroecological Farmers Think About Agritech?
Published: 28-05-2024
A new report from A Bigger Conversation shows that while agroecological farmers, working in a values-based system, have an interest in technology that serves those values, they have little interest in technology that does not. Its findings emphasise the importance of a more critical and context-specific approach to technological innovation, which contrasts with ‘hard sell’ of Agriculture 4.0.
Agroecological Intelligence and Technology Choice – New Report
Published: 29-06-2023
Do agroecological farmers need to ‘tech up’ to be more sustainable? Our Agroecological Intelligence project, brings together UK farmers from across the agroecological spectrum – including as organic, biodynamic, permaculture, food sovereignty, nature friendly, pasture-fed and regenerative – with the aim of understanding what they want from technology and how they make choices around it. Read the interim report.