Britain's Environment Secretary George Eustice arrives back in Downing Street in London on Dec 15, 2020 after attending the weekly cabinet meeting held at the nearby Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

The UK is looking at changing regulations to allow gene editing in farming, in a sign of shifting agricultural policy following the nation’s departure from the European Union.

Genetically modified crops are banned in the EU

The government plans to consult on whether to regulate certain gene-editing organisms differently from genetically modified products, it said in a statement ahead of a speech by Environment Secretary George Eustice.

Allowing gene editing could unlock substantial benefits to the environment and help farmers with crops that are resistant to pests, disease or extreme weather, he said. Genetically modified crops are banned in the EU.

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In this June 5, 2020 photo, the UK Seasonal Relief Team working for The Watercress Company harvest spinach on farmland near Dorchester, in southern England during the novel coronavirus pandemic. (ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP)

“Gene editing has the ability to harness the genetic resources that mother nature has provided, in order to tackle the challenges of our age,” Eustice is scheduled to say at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday. “Now that we have left the EU, we are free to make coherent policy decisions based on science and evidence. That begins with this consultation.”

The consultation runs until March 17.