Exclusive Clive Beddall The Princess Royal followed the Prince of Wales into the genetically modified food debate this week ­ with a swipe at opponents of GM development. In an exclusive interview with The Grocer at Buckingham Palace, she said: “Man has been tinkering with food production and plant development for such a long time that it’s a bit cheeky to suddenly get nervous about it when, fundamentally, you are doing much the same thing.” Interviewed at the start of her year as president of the Royal Highland Show, Princess Anne said she understood why shoppers were concerned about the GM issue. But she added: “Shoppers feel the speed of change is too fast to understand what the dangers are and where the weak points might be. And that seems to me to be a perfectly valid argument. But it is a huge over-simplification to say all farming ought to be organic or that there should be no GM foods. I’m sorry, but life isn’t that simple.” On organics, the Princess said it could be argued that there had been “an underestimation” of the degree of interest. “I think they have their place,” she said. “You can add value on the marginal farms through organics, but I fear they’re not the overall answer.” She added: “If you consider things in terms of overall production and sheer weight of numbers ­ of supporting a population which has so hugely increased ­ then organics are not the whole answer. “However, I’m sure they will continue to be a much more important part of the farming background and everybody will benefit in the long term,” she said. In an interview covering a wide range of issues, from farmers’ markets to internet shopping, the Princess Royal praised Scottish producers for creating a “Silicon Valley of food and drink”. “Its people are not stuck in the past,” she said. “They are positive thinkers.” She also urged Scottish food producers to join the recent campaigns to encourage food chain unity. “All parts of the chain should understand how the industry is interrelated,” she said. “If they don’t, the consumer never will.” - See Focus on the Royal Highland Show, page 37 {{NEWS }}