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GM crops could be introduced to Britain in a bid to prevent food shortages, a Cabinet minister suggested today.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn sparked anger from green groups by floating the idea as a solution to climate change and population growth.
Mr Benn told Radio 4's Today programme that farmers would decide what to grow but it was important to investigate new techniques to discover the "facts" about them.
"If GM can make a contribution then we have a choice as a society and as a world about whether to make use of that technology, and an increasing number of countries are growing GM products," Mr Benn said. "We will need to think about the way in which we produce our food, use water and fertiliser. We will need more people to come into farming because it has a bright future.
"Because one thing is certain - with a growing population, the world is going to need a lot of farmers and a lot of agricultural production in the years ahead."
Some GM crops could be more drought-resistant and used with pesticides to combat the expected rise in insects associated with rising temperatures.
Under today's government blueprint, farmers, supermarkets and consumers are invited to suggest how a secure food system should look in 2030.
Mr Benn said while Britain was more self-sufficient than it was in the Thirties and Fifties, everyone must start thinking about how to produce more using less water and less fertiliser.
He said last year's sudden jump in the price of food and oil, which most fertilisers are based on, was a "wake-up call". "We saw last year when the oil price went up and there was a drought in Australia, which had an impact on the price of bread here in the UK, just how interdependent all these things are," he said. "We have to feed another two and a half to three billion mouths over the next 40 to 50 years, so I want British agriculture to produce as much food as possible."
He encouraged consumers to buy more UK-grown produce and called for a re-think on sell-by dates to reduce waste.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published an assessment of Britain's food supply.
Defra's chief scientific adviser, Professor Robert Watson, said the UK was "food secure" because it produced 60 to 65 per cent of its own food and imported about 20 per cent from Europe. But future years could see those figures change, particularly as fish stocks depleted.
Last month, the Sustainable Development Commission - the Government's environmental watchdog - published a report that warned the food system was a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and paid little attention to soil quality and water use.
Reader views (5)
I just KNEW it. As soon as they started up with this 'food security' story yesterday, it was blindingly obvious it was going to be used to try to foist GM crops on us.
These people are just not listening. WE DON'T WANT GM FOOD!
- Robert C, London UK
Absolute codswallop from parasite Benn.
ANYTHING to make the English live in fear.
Get lost Hilary (I always thought that was a girl's name?).
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK
What a load of spin. Lets turn it round Hilary darling. STOP allowing 1,600 people a day ( + family) coming into this overpopulated country
- Grim Reaper, Hell
Britain does NOT need ANY GM foods, clueless Benn, stop listening to the GM lobbyists and listen to we the people who put you in power, or rather, who are going to kick you out within the year.
- Ralph, London
Tell you what Mr Benn, Stop immigration from anywhere, and reduce this Island's population to a level that can be self supporting and you won't have to worry about food security. All you are doing is trying to panic Joe Public into accepting GM products, or we'll all die. There are ways of tackling the large amount of waste that occurs in supermarkets and producers of ready meals that would reduce or reuse this waste, but your Govt won't allow this because you would appear to have rules, (But only when it suits).
- Alan, carlisle uk
