The trials were the first GM crops to enter British soil in nearly 3 years, after public opposition forced a U-turn in government and corporate plans for patented crops. Although presented as an R&D trial into the effectiveness of an anti blight gene, they were widely considered to be trial of public opinion.

DEFRA initially gave approval in December for BASF to undertake trials at two sites, one in Cambridgeshire (at the National Institute of Agriculture and Botany) and the other initially in Derbyshire - until the farmer pulled out. The Yorkshire site was then chosen, but the owner of that site pulled out after being approached about borage being grown nearby, with the consequence that the trial would affect locally produced honey.

In more recent news, the EU Agriculture Council failed to approve the commercial growing of the genetically modified potato. However, this means that the European Commission (which backed BASF's proposal) will take the final decision on whether to allow commercialisation of the potato. Approval was likely in the "coming months," the Commission said.