Britain will remain a magnet for cutting edge research in agricultural techniques, a leading MEP told farming technologists this week.

Anthea McIntyre MEP also predicted that the UK government would put science at the forefront of future environment and agriculture policies.

Miss McIntyre, Conservative agriculture spokesman in Brussels, was addressing the Association of Agricultural Engineers in London on Tuesday.

She said that the recent government publication A Green Future had highlighted how scientific knowledge would be at the heart of any future regulation alongside a focus on Integrated Pest Management for a more holistic approach.

Miss McIntyre outlined her series of reports on harnessing emerging technology to improve productivity and environmental protection, and said:  "The UK is a global leader in science and innovation - these developments in precision farming are right on our doorstep.

"My region the West Midlands recently grew the world’s first entire crop using nothing but robot tractors and drones.

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"Both the UK and EU have a huge stake in maintaining a very close relationship in research and innovation after Brexit. I hope we will continue with the same level of participation in European research programmes, as we currently have with Horizon 2020.”

Miss McIntyre also referred to the European Parliament’s new special committee on pesticides, set up in the wake of the reauthorisation of glyphosate, the widely used weedkiller.

She said: “Glyphosate has been proved to be perfectly safe and is so important in progressive farming techniques. Decisions need to be based on scientific evidence not political bias."