There can be no doubt that Prince Charles is sincere and means well. His generous support of farming charities and small farmers in particular bears witness to the fact and our industry must be grateful for that. But when it comes to matters scientific and practical he confuses his costly lifestyle choice with the reality faced by most other people. And he is guided in his statements on such matters by a small but influential bunch of friends.
His recent outburst against GM crops was clearly inspired by such friends who doubtless believe what they tell him but whose rationale is already being found to be flawed. After only a few months of higher food prices many consumers who were previously prepared to pay a sizeable premium for organic food are deserting it in droves. Fashion in food will only stand a limited amount of pressure, it seems, and that limit has been reached for many. Perhaps they are also getting the message that organic farming cannot feed the world.
But Charles is not completely wrong. While holding the opposite view on the potential, indeed necessity, of GM crop varieties that may be able to tolerate the challenges of climate change, I share his concern that the developments are dominated by huge international conglomerates who will doubtless exploit their monopoly positions whenever possible. To counteract this potential abuse of economic power it seems to me there is an urgent need for governments to increase their investment in GM research to ensure outcomes are for the public good, not just the shareholders of big corporations.
The Prince would do far more to help mankind if he promoted that idea than he is by calling for all such scientific progress to be banned.