UK’s new biosecurity strategy ambitions need ‘realistic funding’

Scientists welcome plans to build plant health capability through technology but call for more cash

Plans to boost R&D on plant health, set out in the UK government’s five-year biosecurity strategy on 9 January, will need to be backed by “realistic funding”, scientists have said.

Through the new strategy, the government wants to put innovation at the heart of its approach “to protect plant health but also drive scientific growth and create skilled jobs for our sector.”