GM Crop Farm Scale Evaluations:
Scientific Steering Committee Minutes
9 February 2001
| Attending: | Members: | Professor Chris Pollock (chairman) (IGER) Dr Alastair Burn (EN) Dr David Gibbons (RSPB) Mr Jim Orson (Morley Research Centre) Dr Nick Sotherton (GCT) |
|
| Secretariat: | Dr Linda Smith (DETR) Dr Andrew Wakeham-Dawson (DETR) Mr Stuart Darke (DETR) |
||
| Assessors: | Mr Renaud Wilson (MAFF) Dr Brian Johnson (EN) Dr Roger Turner (SCIMAC) Dr Toby Willison (SERAD) Mr Derek Bearhop (SE) |
||
| Contractors: | Dr Les Firbank (CEH) Professor Joe Perry (IACR) Dr Peter Rothery (CEH) Dr Mike May (IACR) Dr Geoff Squire (SCRI) Dr Juliet Vickery (BTO) - Farmland Birds and FSE item only Dr Dan Chamberlain (BTO) - Farmland Birds and FSE item only |
Summary
The Scientific Steering Committee overseeing the Farm Scale Evaluations of GMHT crops met on Friday 9 February 2001.
The Scientific Steering Committee provided the following advice to Ministers:
-
The Committee has reviewed the protocols for 2001 and agreed the sampling procedures. Discussions will continue in relation to some issues of data management.
-
The Committee has endorsed the Research Consortium's scientific opinion based on data collected in 2000 that, for the purposes of this study, fodder beet and sugar beet can be considered the same crop.
-
The Committee was pleased to find that the target number of sites for spring oilseed rape and beet have been met and exceeded by SCIMAC. SCIMAC has provided a pool from which sites of each crop type can be selected for the second spring sowing round of the Farm Scale Evaluation programme.
-
The Committee has considered and approved the distribution and number of sites for spring oilseed rape and beet crops selected by the contractors from the pool submitted by SCIMAC. There were, however, some inequalities in distribution of sites that the Committee recommended be addressed in the third year.
-
The Committee noted that a viable number of forage maize sites had already been offered by SCIMAC for consideration by the contractors. However, farmers do not commit to planting this late-sown crop until later in the spring than the other two. The Committee will consider the maize site selection in the near future and will pay particular attention to the distribution of sites.
-
The Committee continued to emphasise the importance of meeting its requirements with regard to adequate:
-
geographical distribution of study sites,
-
representation of less intensive production systems, and
-
total number of study sites, to meet the original aims and objectives of the Farm Scale Evaluations.
-
Introduction
The Chairman outlined the reasons for the meeting:
- to discuss the Research Consortium's most recent draft interim report of 31 January 2001 and assess the progress that had been made in the Farm Scale Evaluation (FSE) programme;
- to discuss FSE spring sites for 2001 that had been offered by SCIMAC to the Research Consortium; and
- to provide advice to Ministers on the status of the FSEs.
The Chairman reported on discussions that had taken place between the Committee and the Consortium prior to the full meeting. The Chairman outlined that the Consortium's initial analysis of data from 2001 confirmed that power calculations made at the beginning of the research had provided a good basis for experimental design, and that early analysis indicated that the experimental design based on 60 fields was robust.
Revision of protocols
The Consortium presented the proposed final revisions to some protocols that were set out in the interim report, explaining that these revisions were based on the experience of the first full year of data collection.
The Committee thanked the Consortium for its report and noted and endorsed the majority of proposed revisions as part of the development of the experiment. However, the Committee was concerned to ensure that some of the revisions being proposed would not affect the robustness of the data produced. The Committee focused on the proposed revisions to the vegetation, seed-rain, gastropods (slugs and snails) and soil surface and vegetation invertebrates (Vortis sampling).
The Consortium explained that the vegetation protocols had been slightly changed to include worm cast counts. They informed the Committee that the inclusion of this protocol was in response to the observations by a number of farmers involved in the evaluations. The Committee noted that worm cast counts would be a useful indication of activity in some species of earthworm. The Committee inquired whether a proposed redesign of the seed rain traps could change the amount of seed depletion through predation. The Consortium was confident that seed depletion of this type was not a problem, but they agreed to conduct a small study into the amount of depletion that occurred as a result of seed predation. The Committee discussed gastropod sampling and recommended that the Consortium further consider choice of bait for sampling traps.
The soil surface invertebrate protocol was discussed. The Committee agreed that they needed further dialogue with the Consortium to resolve issues concerning the counting of insect wing morphs. In addition, the Committee also discussed the number of samples taken within the fields. The Committee recommended that further analysis of collected specimens was required before the Committee could be confident that over-sampling was taking place and that any traps could be removed from the experiment.
The Consortium presented analyses of the summer vegetation (Vortis) invertebrate sampling rounds, in support of their proposed protocol changes. The Committee felt that more analysis of data collected in 2000 was required before it could endorse proposed reductions in the number of samples analysed, and that the definition of taxonomic and functional groups that the Consortium were proposing to investigate required more discussion. The Committee agreed that they needed to be convinced that a reduction in sampling intensity did not affect the ability of the experiment to test its null hypothesis.
The Chairman proposed that the Committee be divided into three sub-groups: a statistics group, a zoological group and a botanical group. These sub-groups would provide a mechanism to facilitate discussion of operational issues between the Consortium and the Committee outside the formal meetings. The recommendations of the sub-groups would then be circulated by the Secretariat to the rest of the Committee for endorsement. Where the issues are more complex (e.g. modelling or the links between sampling and analysis) additional Committee members would be involved, up to the full Committee, although the appropriate sub-group would remain the point of contact.
Research Sites for 2001
The Committee considered whether fodder and sugar beet should be treated as one crop for the purpose of the FSE. The Consortium presented statistical analysis of data from the 2000-growing season, which indicated that these two varieties of beet should be considered as one crop for the purposes of the FSE. In addition, the Consortium emphasised that an appropriate combination of both varieties should be planted to represent the full range of management intensities associated with beet production systems in the UK. This was fully endorsed by the Committee.
The Consortium described the sites that had been submitted to them by SCIMAC for the spring round of plantings. Fifty-one spring grown oilseed rape sites and thirty-eight beet sites had been offered from a range of locations around the UK. The Committee welcomed and praised the large number of sites that SCIMAC had provided and endorsed the Consortium's selection of sites from the pool of sites available. There were, however, some inequalities in the distribution of sites that the Committee recommended be addressed in the third year of FSE research. For spring oilseed rape, it was noted that site distribution was under represented in northern England and southern Scotland. The Committee noted that a viable number of forage maize sites had also been offered by SCIMAC. However, the Committee recognised that farmers sow forage maize later in the season and therefore may not want to commit to growing maize at this stage of the year. The Committee agreed to consider the maize site selection in the near future and pay particular attention to the distribution of sites in the south west of the maize growing area.
Farmland Birds and FSE
Representatives from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) outlined the work that had been carried in an additional pilot study that DETR had commissioned to investigate the effect of GM Herbicide Tolerant crop management on farmland birds and larger mammals. The BTO had made surveys of the FSE sites during the 2000 breeding season and 2000/01 winter period, and recorded the presence and foraging activities of farmland birds such as skylarks, partridges and swallows, and mammals such as deer and hares.
The Committee thanked BTO for the presentation and made recommendations on the protocols and the analysis of statistical power that had been carried out. The Committee agreed that the Consortium and the BTO should work closely to facilitate the reporting of the BTO's power analysis in a way that was similar to the approach used by the Consortium. The Committee advised DETR that the pilot study could be considered for continuation during the course of the FSE programme.
Other developments relating to FSE Research
The Committee noted that the DETR intended to circulate a pack of information to Parish Councils where sites would be located. In addition, officials from DETR would attend meetings organised by those Parish Councils.
The inquiry into the FSE by the Agricultural and Environment Biotechnology Commission was also discussed. The Committee welcomed the AEBC's work and looked forward to developing a close working relationship.
The Committee also noted the recent report of the FSE from the Scottish Transport and Environment Committee.
FSE Results and Modelling
The Consortium informed members that a workshop on modelling and design of models to interpret the results of the FSE had taken place, and that another was planned in due course. The Committee welcomed this approach and invited the Consortium to involve members of the Committee when their expertise was needed.
Research proposals
The Committee considered two research proposals from the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI). The first involved collection of soil samples from FSE fields. The Committee agreed in principle that the study should go ahead, but recommended that the number of fields included in the SCRI soil study should reflect the range of farming intensities represented in the FSE crops, and that further information would be needed before the Committee could fully endorse the study. The Committee also emphasised that any soil sample collection would have to take place under the guidance of the Consortium. The second proposal involved an investigation of pollination by bees in GMHT oilseed rape. The Consortium agreed that the study take place, subject to confirmation by the Consortium that the research would not interfere with the core FSE biodiversity study. The Committee asked the Secretariat to make it clear to all those proposing to undertake a study at Farm Scale Evaluation sites, that a condition of the Committee's endorsement of that study was that their results could not be published before the core results of the Farm Scale Evaluations.
The meeting closed at 16:30 hours.
The next full meeting of the Scientific Steering Committee will be held in London on 1 November 2001.
Minutes prepared by the Secretariat to the Scientific Steering Committee.
Biotechnology Safety Unit, DETR
Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6DE
Page published 22 March
2000;
Page last modified
25 February, 2003