A farmer-led project is multiplying seeds with new genetic traits and putting them into UK fields to test whether precision-bred crops can deliver real-world benefits. Agricultural productivity in the UK has plateaued, while climate change threatens food security, nutritional quality, and pest patterns. The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 allows these crops to be grown in England—the only European country where this is permitted—but uncertainty remains about how they perform outside laboratories. PROBITY aims to close that gap by growing three market-ready broadacre crops over three years, processing the harvest into iconic British brands, and letting farmers and consumers judge the results. If successful, the project will produce wheat with health benefits, larger grain, or energy-dense fodder that reduces methane emissions, alongside pest resistance and drought tolerance. It will also create a farmer-led platform to accelerate adoption of new genetic technologies in a safe, transparent environment. The outcome is not a distant promise but a practical pipeline: proven seeds, clear supply-chain confidence, and a resilient farming system where knowledge and technical progress advance together.
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Over the next 25 years, agricultural productivity in the UK must increase by almost as much as it has over the previous 50 if it is to keep pace with the world's increasing demand for food. But it has plateaued. Meanwhile climate change demands reductions in agricultural GHG emissions, threatens food security, its nutritional quality and the distribution of pests and diseases that affect crops. It's unlikely plant breeding can meet the pace of change needed without delivering considerable technical advances to the marketplace. Those advances may exist within the glasshouses and laboratories of the UK's research organisations. The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 has allowed for them to be explored further. England is currently the only country in Europe where this novel material can be grown in farmers' fields. The technology promises to bring a step change in genetics. Wheat with health benefits, with bigger, bolder grain and energy-dense fodder delivering reductions in methane emissions are three examples. Pest and disease resistance, drought tolerance and high-iron flour are close behind. PROBITY is a three-year farmer-led project that multiplies up seeds with these novel properties to batch scale in just three years. It puts the seeds into farmers hands, guided by the scientists who developed them, to cultivate them and build the understanding of the crops that result, teasing out the true benefits for the whole supply chain. It processes the produce into iconic British brands that can be evaluated and so that consumers can judge for themselves what they deliver. PROBITY brings clarity where currently there is uncertainty. It engenders a trusted, transparent space to gather knowledge and understanding, to accelerate scientific progression and genetic advances while minimising the risk of unintended consequences. It gives the supply chain the confidence it needs to encourage their adoption. At the end of the project there will be three market-ready broadacre crops, precision-bred with proven gains for both farmers and society. There will be a farmer-led platform available as a service to help accelerate adoption of new genetic technologies in a safe and trusted environment, with a pipeline of promising traits. The cropping system that evolves and understanding that accrues bring clear commercial benefits in terms of market certainty. Moreover, applying PROBITY to novel crops will ensure a resilient farming system in which knowledge and technological progress advance together.
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