A FARMER has defended his decision to take part in GM crop trials, despite fierce criticism from environmentalists.

Provisional sites for the next round of trials at 25 locations in England and Scotland were announced yesterday, amid a storm of fresh protests.

But John Richardson, whose Hutton House farm, at Hutton Magna, near Barnard Castle, is among those listed to take part, said the experiments were crucial and he would not be deterred by protestors, who had ruined crops in the past.

"These protestors are fighting a losing battle. There are 100 million acres of it being grown around the world, it's not an odd 20 acres here and there. With that quantity being grown, it's not going to be stopped," he said.

"These trials are absolutely safe. They are testing safety on the ecology side, not the human health side because that has already been done."

Mr Richardson's farm, and another at East Newton, near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, will be part of the latest trials to determine the effect on the environment of growing herbicide-tolerant GM crops.

Applications to grow winter oil seed rape have been made by seed company Aventis.

Friends of the Earth demanded compensation for beekeepers whose hives would be affected, and organic farmers whose crops could be contaminated.