Federal government approves field trial with genetically modified barley
Published: Thursday, Feb 15th 2024, 11:40
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Employees of the federal research institute Agroscope are permitted to carry out field trials with genetically modified spring barley. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has granted permission for this. The aim of the project is to achieve higher yields.
From this spring until fall 2026, Agroscope researchers will be allowed to cultivate genetically modified barley at the Reckenholz ZH site under strict conditions, as announced by the FOEN on Thursday. The barley was mutated using the new genetic engineering breeding method Crispr/Cas9. The trial is intended to show whether the yield can be increased in this way. According to Agroscope, this has worked with rice and rapeseed.
With this release trial, Agroscope and the Free University of Berlin intend to gain insights into the behavior of the plants in the field, as stated in the press release. Strict measures are in place to ensure that no genetically modified material can spread outside the trial site. According to the FOEN, these requirements are comparable to those imposed in previous trials in Switzerland.
In Switzerland, the cultivation of genetically modified plants for research purposes is subject to authorization. Agricultural production is prohibited until the end of 2025 due to a moratorium.
The regulation of plants derived from new breeding methods such as Crispr/Cas9 is currently being discussed in various countries. According to an initial decision by the EU Parliament last week, such plants, which could also be created by chance in nature and without foreign genetic material, should be less strictly regulated in future. The Federal Council is expected to make proposals in mid-2024 on how it intends to regulate the approval of such genetically modified plants (GM plants) in Switzerland in future.
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