On 20 February Rothamsted Research applied for permission to plant highly experimental GM Camelina Sativa at their farm in Hertfordshire.

GM Freeze has consistently led the opposition to open air field trials in the UK. We have supported hundreds of people to make their feelings known in a constructive way. We would like to do the same this time but we have a problem that we haven’t faced before.

In the past we have used our core funds to cover the cost of responding to trial applications but last year saw a 40% drop in core grant funding. We have found new funders but they will only support specific projects planned well in advance, rather than emergencies like this.