Farmer accuses Welsh Assembly of 'breathtaking hypocrisy' over GM

Jonathan Harrington says that most animal feeds already being sold in Wales contain GM soya and that the Welsh Assembly is displaying 'breathtaking hypocrisy' in its anti-GM stance.

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He also maintains a recent University of Glamorgan study had found the vast majority of supermarket foods also contained GM material.

“To describe Wales as being GM-free is like saying Norfolk is coal free. It is true there are no coal mines there – but that is not to say there is no coal there,” he says.

“I am angry because we live in a wealthy part of the world where we can afford to take a selective approach to food.”

The Assembly’s approach to food production in protecting its 'clean, green image' was 'hopelessly quaint' in a world where the world population was predicted to grow from six billion to nine billion by 2050.

He also believes GM technology will help tackle climate change with future varieties being resistant to drought, salinity or flooding.

Mr Harrington, who runs the agricultural consultancy Optima Excel, is already being investigated by Powys Trading Standards after claiming to have grown GM maize on land around his farm at Penylan, between Felindre and Hay-on-Wye close to the Breconshire-Herefordshire border.

But despite that he says he will do the same this year in defiance of Welsh Assembly policy.

He claims, too, to have the backing of some 30 Wales-based scientists and similarly minded farmers who will also be growing GM crops this summer.