The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill currently being tabled in Parliament has come under significant scrutiny because of its implications for the future of food access and availability in the UK. Supporters of the bill argue that this gene-editing technology is essential to drive agricultural productivity to grow resilient crops and enhance the UK’s food security. However, small farmers and food activists claim that the bill’s reliance on technological interventions ignores the underlying structural barriers limiting the capability of the country’s rural workers to grow food on their own terms, and instead offers more financial concessions to large agri-biotech firms. This article situates the debates over the Precision Breeding Bill within a longer global history of agriculture, and calls for a measured approach to food policy that necessitates a closer scrutiny of past errors.