News that land is expected to reach almost £50,000/hectare (£20,000/acre) by 2020 is a double-edged sword for the farming industry – and for our PR beyond it.
GM field trial sites destroyed
MASKED attackers overpowered guards at two GM trial sites in Saxony-Anhalt, funded by the German Ministry of Research, destroyed plants and caused damage worth hundreds of thousands of euros.
The trials, being used to develop new risk assessment methods, involved potatoes and wheat. The destroyed potatoes produce a raw material which could replace oil as a raw material in plastic production, while the genetically modified wheat is resistant to certain fungal diseases.
It is reported in one case the attackers were armed with bats and pepper spray and in the other they took the guard’s mobile phone, stabbed his car tyres and blinded him with headlights.
One of the trial fields had previously been destroyed in 2009. This year, six out of 16 field trials in Germany have already been destroyed.
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