Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Oxford Farming Conference


2 - 4 January 2013. This Conference was held at the Oxford University Examination Schools. The conference included a hard-hitting political debate session, a session on technology & innovation and one on inspiration & global technology. The 2013 Research examines what farming delivers to society - it is a seminal piece of work which quantifies the non-direct contributions farming makes to society in a financial context.

The most surprising intervention was the presentation by a self-confessed former anti-GM lobbyist. Environmentalist Mark Lynas used to be a fierce opponent of GM crops. Yet he told delegates at the Oxford Farming Conference his view has completely changed.


Mark Lynas from Oxford Farming Conference on Vimeo.

I want to start with some apologies. For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment.

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