Princess Anne backs GM crops and livestock – unlike Prince Charles

Princess Anne has strongly backed genetically modified crops, saying she would grow them on her own land and that GM livestock would be a “bonus”.

Her stance puts her sharply at odds with her brother Prince Charles, who has long opposed GM food and has said it will cause the “biggest disaster environmentally of all time”.

Princess Anne, who has farmed on her estate in Gloucestershire since the 1970s, told BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme: “GM is one of those things that divides people but surely if we are going to be better at producing food of the right value, then we have to accept that genetic technology is going to be part of that.

“I do think that in the future gene technology has got real benefits to offer, which will maybe have an occasional downside, but I suspect not very many,” she also said.

“Most of us would argue we have been genetically modifying food since man started to be agrarian, but everybody would say it doesn’t happen so quickly via conventional selective breeding.”

However, Princess Anne said she opposed the avoidance of GM crops as a precaution: “To say, no, no, we mustn’t go there just in case is probably not a practical argument.”

GM crops are not commercially grown in the UK and few have been licensed in the EU due to opposition in many other European countries. The UK government is looking at allowing GM crops to be sown after the nation leaves the EU.

Asked if she would grow GM crops on her land, Princess Anne said: “Yes, I mean arguably I think we’re already doing that to some extent.” She also said she would welcome GM animals: “I have rare breeds livestock, so genetic modification would be a bonus, if I could just find a way of making them a little more robust in terms of survivability.”

She said the increased selection on specific bloodlines in cattle was already a form of genetic modification, though she said there had been downsides in some breeds.

Prince Charles has long opposed GM crops, calling them the “seeds of disaster” in 1998 and saying in 2008 that having “one form of clever genetic engineering after another then … will be guaranteed to cause the biggest disaster environmentally of all time.” Some environmental groups have also remained staunchly against the use of GM crops.

It is not the first time the royals have clashed on the issue, with Princess Anne saying in 2014 that GM crops had a role to play in the “serious business [of] feeding people” in a world with a fast growing population. She said then that she “seldom” discussed the issue with the future king.

GM crops are grown widely outside Europe, covering 180m hectares in 2015, with the US, Brazil and Argentina the leading producers. In 2016, the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine concluded GM food was generally safe for humans and the environment and could prove health benefits, but it said GM crops were not delivering substantially increased yields, as proponents promised.

A study in 2012 found that crops genetically modified to poison pests can deliver significant environmental benefits, by cutting pesticide use.

The full interview with Princess Anne will be broadcast on BBC’s Farming Today programme on Thursday 23rd March at 5.45am GMT.