Farm scale evaluations of genetically modified crops
a knowledge exchange case study
In 2005, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and partners published the final set of results from the biggest experiment of its kind in the world, designed to test the effects of growing Genetically Modified (GM) herbicide-tolerant crops on biodiversity.
The Farm Scale Evaluations, funded by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), demonstrated that there are potentially harmful effects of growing GM beet and oil seed rape on farmland biodiversity and potentially beneficial effects of growing GM maize.
The findings were endorsed by the GM Science Review Panel and ACRE (Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment) and, as a result, are shaping Government policy in the UK and in Europe on commercialisation of these crops.