In a speech on "changing perspectives in agriculture" at the Oxford Farming Conference, former environmentalist Mark Lynas has delivered an argument centered on acceptance of genetically modified crops which dovetails harmoniously with both the current industry perspective and the government's desire to roll out GM in the UK.

Lynas began his talk with an apology; he apologised for his previous activism, which stretched over a period from the early 1990s up until the late noughties, aimed at halting the uptake of GM in the UK. Lynas offered his condolences, saying "As an environmentalist, and someone who believes that everyone in this world has a right to food –I apologise."  His reasoning for having renounced his former beliefs so completely, he said, was his "discovery of science."

The author and campaigner claimed the anti-GM movement is also "anti-science" and suggested his own opposition had been the result of a "deep-seated fear" of the perceived unnaturalness of GM, adding that, although his work on climate change has been based on solid research, his opinion on GM was not.

Speaking at the conference, and offering up a fiercely pro-GM polemic, which made up the most part of his address on  'a new paradigm for agriculture', Lynas claimed that, whereas he had previously thought GM crops used more chemicals, research shows that pest-resistant cotton and maize actually require less chemicals. However, the findings of recent studies from Washington State Universityand the US Organic Center run contrary to this claim.

Nevertheless, Mr Lynas expressed deep concern over the changing climate and eventual need to feed more people using less resources as growing conditions become potentially more difficult. He said research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggested the World will require 100 percent more food to feed the maximum projected population adequately, whilst using less water, land and inputs. The figure is based on projections from the University of Minnesota.

Lynas takes aim at former friends

Although Lynas said GM must be implemented to tackle world hunger and improve crop production in global regions where food insecurity is widespread and people are at the greatest risk from the effects of climate change, his arguments at OFC focused mainly on discrediting organic farming and non-governmental organisations, rather than the benefits of GM.

He first argued that the wider acceptance of GM in the EU is being held-up by "twisted domestic policies of anti-GM countries like Austria, Germany and France," adding, "France, remember, long refused to accept the potato as it was an American import" and suggested organic growing is "worse for the environment," than growing GM crops as more land must be used to grow organic crops than GM equivalents.

Contrary to Lynas' presentation of the debate over food security, influential reports into food security do not, generally, treat GM as a panacea, moreover, reports including the 2008 IAASTD report and 2010 UN report Agroecology and the Right to Food by special rapporteur Olivier de Schutter, largely eschew mention of GM.

Both reports have been vital to food policy and their findings are widely accepted, however, both treat GM as insignificant in the face of the great challenges to food security. The two papers focus instead on efforts to create more equitable and resilient systems, with a wider focus encompassing social justice and environmentally sustainable farming practices, arguing that enough food is currently being produced worldwide to adequately feed a higher population but imbalances of power, problems of access and gender inequality are perpetuating food insecurity.

When questioned on access to food and inequitable distribution, which sees almost one billion people go hungry whilst another billion are obese, Lynas returned to yields and said encouraging higher yields is of utmost importance to solve hunger.

Lynas concluded in Oxford on Thursday, "the GM debate is over – we no longer need to debate whether it’s  safe," before suggesting that people have died as a result of opting to eat organic food, but not GM and adding, "My message to the anti-GM lobby is this: you are entitled to your views, but you must know by now that they are not supported by science. Now is the time to get out of the way."