Opening up the dialogue on genetic engineering in food and farming.
London, England
Joined January 2019
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MI5's DG warns that AI could raise the stakes on existing or even new biological weapons. His warning brings renewed urgency to big #engineeringbiology questions: how openly are we discussing what gets engineered and who gets to shape its purpose?abiggerconversation.org/armo…
Digital agriculture is often sold as inevitable progress, but behind the “cloud” lie corporate power grabs, exploited mine and data workers, and huge water and energy costs – raising urgent questions about who digitalisation really serves. abiggerconversation.org/caug…
A Bigger Conversation retweeted
"Photosynthesis is inefficient"? Really? Agricultural technologies like GMOs, AI and nano-technology too often come with a lot of hype and hot air. Our new series Beyond the Headline examines extreme or just plain silly claims for tech in an accessible way. Check out our first installment now. beyond-gm.org/beyond-the-hea…
When it comes to AI in conservation, experts in biodiversity are raising questions about technological disruption, regulatory complexity and infrastructure impacts that suggest a need to temper opportunity with precaution. Read on: abiggerconversation.org/ai-i…
Important read 👇
Who owns the data generated on farms?
Increasingly, not farmers.
As AI, cloud computing & biodigital technologies take over farming, control over data is becoming a major source of corporate power.
Here's why data sovereignty matters for our food.
ipes-food.org/digital-agricu…
This is a significant legal finding. There are multiple lessons to be learned here especially about truth, transparency, meaningful engagement with all points of view, and the need for reflexive democratic processes.
We're celebrating! 🎉🎉 We've had a significant win in our high court challenge the precision bred GMO regulations. The court has ruled that the Defra Minister's decision not to label PBOs in the food chain was unlawful. Read the full story: beyond-gm.org/victory-high-c…
The future of cultivated meat won’t be decided by marketing, PR or technical approval alone. Citizens participating in the CARMA Citizen Forum on cultivated meat showed that acceptance is always conditional & trust must be continually (re)earned. abiggerconversation.org/cult…
When we use conservation biotechnology for conservation, are we preserving nature – or creating a new kind of human-made 'nature'? The answer will shape not only the future of conservation, but our understanding of humanity’s place in the living world. abiggerconversation.org/when…
Important development. Just the fact that the High Court considers the case arguable, suggests that concerns expressed throughout the process of the Genetic Technology Act and regulations have merit.
⚖️🌱 Gene-edited crops are set for a High Court test in May. The legal challenge has been launched against England’s precision breeding regulations
READ MORE: farminguk.com/news/gene-edit…
A Bigger Conversation retweeted
The real #innovation story is not in the cloud.
It’s in farmers’ fields.
Farmers & communities are:
🌾restoring soils
🌱breeding climate-adapted crops
🐞managing pests ecologically
🌍building resilience.
Stop sidelining them.
📖Read: ipes-food.org/report/head-in…
#HeadInTheCloud
Is technology always beneficial? Is innovation always benign? Another important contribution to the agritech debate.
🚨Tomorrow: we launch HEAD IN THE CLOUD☁️
Corporate-led digital tech is reshaping #agriculture at speed.
But who sets the agenda? Who benefits? What’s at risk?
💻Join our webinar to launch this landmark report
📅25 Feb | 14:00 UTC
🔗Register now: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi…
A Bigger Conversation retweeted
Who is shaping #innovation in farming? In whose interests?
AI, precision farming & gene-edited seeds are pitched as solutions to #foodsystem crises. But who benefits? Who decides? Who is sidelined?
📆25 Feb 14:00 UTC, join us to launch #HeadInTheCloud.
ipes-food.org/launch-webinar…
As the EU revises rules for gene-engineered plants, debates centre on safety, traceability and labelling. Overlooked is patent law’s role in reshaping who can breed plants, on what terms, and with what legal certainty overall. abiggerconversation.org/new-…
A Bigger Conversation retweeted
Unlike the U.S. focus on risky “high reward” innovation, this approach embraces low-tech innovation and prioritizes positive impact while minimizing risk.
science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…
Interesting thread on the suppressed government biodiversity report. Not many picked up its luke warm assessment of tech technologies role in fixing the biodiversity crisis. Does the full report say more we wonder?
1/ A new UK Government report treats biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as a national security risk. We’ll get to that in a moment... First, some context on how UK policy ended up pulling in the opposite direction… 🧵gov.uk/government/publicatio…
From bees to crops, engineered genes and microbes inevitably spread, exposing regulatory blind spots and challenging assumptions of control, precaution and accountability in rapidly deregulating governance frameworks. abiggerconversation.org/edit…
In the age of algorithms, who decides how farmers think? Whether farmers' ability to sense, analyse & act are eroded or strengthened depends not on technology itself, but on design, governance & farmer inclusion. abiggerconversation.org/farm…
We are very much looking forward to being on the panel for @IPESFood Digital Dilemmas: Who Controls Agtech? on 8th January at #ORFC2026, looking at what farmers want - and don't want - from digitech.
IPES-Food is heading to the @ORFC #ORFC2026 as an official partner.
We’re organising sessions on trade wars & food prices, climate justice, #foodsystem #plastics, agtech & #agroecology, and corporate concentration.
Join us in Oxford or online!
👉 ipes-food.org/oxford-real-fa…
A Bigger Conversation retweeted
Good golly there’s - unintentionally, I think - lots to unpack in this Telegraph piece - not least confused framing around meat vs “not-meat”, systemic change vs tech fixes & how animal welfare, farming & innovation get blurred into a simplistic story. telegraph.co.uk/business/202…🧵
Synthetic human genomes are being developed faster than we can govern them. Good intentions won’t prevent misuse. Without early, values-led scrutiny, we risk creating a technology whose risks become apparent long before its benefits. abiggerconversation.org/synt…
