The Farm Scale Evaluations

In recent years GM crops have been grown for research and development purposes at a number of sites. The main example of this has been the Farm Scale Evaluation (FSE) GM crop trials.

The GM crop farm-scale evaluations were a four-year programme of research by independent researchers aimed at studying the effect, if any, that the management practices associated with Genetically Modified Herbicide Tolerant (GMHT) crops might have on farmland wildlife, when compared with weed control used with non-GM crops.

All of the field trials are now complete. The results for the three spring sown crops, maize, beet and spring oilseed rape, have now been published. Details of how they can be obtained are given below. The results for winter oilseed rape are not expected to be published until 2005.

For more details see this press release from the Scientific Steering Committee and the farm-scale evaluations research team:

• SSC Information Bulletin (16th October 2003)

And this press notice issued by Defra:

• Defra Press Notice (16th October 2003)

For more details on what happens next see this Information Note:

• Background Information Bulletin (13th October 2003)

SSC Farm-scale evaluations results presentations

Following the SSC Farm-scale Results Presentation on 16th and 28th October 2003, archived streams of the speakers and selected powerpoint presentations are now available for viewing at www.livegroup.co.uk/sscfarmscaleevaluations/

The Farm-scale Evaluations results

The scientific papers

The full results of the farm-scale evaluations are published as a series of scientific papers in the independent journal The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Biological Sciences). For a full copy of the scientific results visit the journal's website at www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk.

GM crops: Effects on farmland wildlife

A short non-technical summary of the main findings in the papers has been produced by the research team and scientific steering committee. This is available to download in Adobe Acrobat format (700 KB). You may wish to save this file to your own PC before accessing it - consult our Help page for advice on downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat documents.

Scientific Commentary on the results

A scientific commentary on the farm-scale evaluation results has been produced by the research team and approved by the scientific steering committee. This summarises the results presented in the scientific papers and described the results in detail by crop type. This is available to download in Adobe Acrobat format (This is a large file - 1.25 MB. You may wish to save this file to your own PC before accessing it - consult our Help page for advice on downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat documents.)

Scientific Steering Committee Advice

The scientific steering committee has issued its final advice on the completion of the farm-scale evaluations.

Raw data from the FSEs

The raw data from the FSEs are available at www.farmscale.org.uk. - they are not protected by intellectual property rights.

Implications of the results

The Government's advisers on GM crop releases, the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment are responsible for advising Government on the implications of the FSE results. Details are available on the ACRE web-site.

Advice on the implications of the farm-scale evaluations has also been provided by British statutory nature conservation agencies (The Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature, JNCC and Scottish Natural Heritage). This advice is available to download in Adobe Acrobat format (45 KB).

Environmental Audit Committee inquiry

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has conducted an inquiry entitled 'GM foods - Evaluating the Farm Scale Trials'. This was published on 5 March 2004. The Government has responded (40 KB) to this report and this was published by the Environmental Audit Committee on 5 May 2004.

Further information is available on our Help page about downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat documents.

Earlier Information

Background material on the farm-scale evaluations, including fact sheets, SSC minutes, interim reports, and more, is indexed below.

• Publication of FSE results - outline plans (February 2003)
• FSE methods papers published (February 2003)
• FSE site locations
• News Releases
• Leaflet - GM Crops: take a closer look
• Purity of seed confirmed for last round of GM crop trials:
  News Release, 30 August 2002 and news story
• Impurities found in Aventis GM rape seed Farm-Scale Evaluations:
  • News Release and news story (15 August 2002)
  • Advice from the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE)
  • Aventis letter (dated 2 August) (Adobe Acrobat format, 100kb)
• Defra Report under Part VI Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) (England) Regulations 2002: unauthorised GM material in spring 2002 sown oilseed rape farmscale trials (15 KB)

• Voluntary agreement on the FSEs between Government and the farming and biotechnology industry body (SCIMAC)
• The history of the Farm-Scale Evaluations, August 2000
• The science of the Farm-Scale Evaluations, August 2000
• The Farm-Scale Evaluations of Genetically Modified herbicide tolerant crops - Paper for February 2001 AEBC meeting
• The Farm-Scale Evaluations of Genetically Modified herbicide tolerant crops - Rationale and chronology

Science

• Autumn 2002 site assessments
• Spring 2002 site assessments
• Autumn 2001 site assessments
• Scientific Steering Committee (SSC): minutes of meetings, advice
• SSC 7th interim report - November 2002
• SSC 6th interim report - April 2002
• SSC 5th interim report - October 2001
• SSC 4th interim report - January 2001
• SSC 3rd interim report - October 2000
• SSC 2nd interim report - March 1st 2000
• SSC 1st interim report - November 11th 1999
• Research fact sheets
• Research contractors

Links

• Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE)
• Agriculture & Environment Biotechnology Commission (AEBC)