Food Security
Debate between Lord Winston and Lord Katz
Lord Katz (Lab)
Absolutely. We celebrate and enjoy the contribution that Northern Ireland makes to the agri-food sector. It is an important part of our UK economy.
Lord Winston (Lab)
My Lords, as my noble friend the Minister knows, there were some concerns from many scientists about the precision breeding Bill. I wonder whether he might be able to give us an update on what is currently happening with regard to the modification of crops and animals in our food security.
Lord Katz (Lab)
I do not have an update to hand on the follow-up from the precision breeding Bill, so it will probably be best, in the interest of time, if I undertake to write to my noble friend with some more detail.
Small Farms
Debate between Lord Winston and Lord Katz
Lord Katz (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for that question. It is probably a little outside my bailiwick to talk about changing the devolution settlement with the Senedd. To reassure him, we are working with farmers in all parts of the country and in all farming sectors to ensure that they have fairer, more equitable supply chains, which is of course a really important factor in ensuring that businesses are viable. We have already introduced fair dealing regulations for pig and dairy farmers to ensure that small businesses are treated fairly in their contractual dealings with large buyers. We are currently developing those regulations in other sectors, such as the milk/dairy sector, and I can tell him that the egg sector regulations are well advanced: we are getting cracking with it.
Lord Winston (Lab)
My Lords, in March 2023 this House passed the precision editing Bill, which allowed the release of modified organisms, plants and animals into the environment, specifically to help farmers, including small farmers—particularly with plants—to make profit. Many scientists felt, as I did, that this was a risky process, and it is still under review. This March, nine months ago, the Government announced that they were going to do some tests to see what the risk of mutations and other things might be with such plants. Can the Minister please update us on the current situation?