Rothamsted Research has applied to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in order to obtain a licence to carry out field trials of gene edited wheat in the country. If successful, the proposal would allow for a project of up to five years, ending in 2026, with plants being sown in September and October each year and harvested the following September. The project involves wheat in which the concentration of the amino acid asparagine has been reduced in the grain using the gene editing technique CRISPR. The company has previously carried out GM wheat and camelina trials across two sites in Hertfordshire and Suffolk, having applied for a similar licence in 2018 (see AgbioNews Apr 2, 2018).