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Britain's Prince Charles, seen in February 2008, delivers a speech on climate change before representatives from the environment and industry/energy Parliamentary commitees at the European Parliament in Brussels. The widespread development of genetically modified crops risks leading to the worst environmental "disaster" ever, Prince Charles said in an interview published Wednesday.(AFP/File/Francois Lenoir)

The widespread development of genetically modified crops risks leading to the worst environmental "disaster" ever, Prince Charles said in an interview published Wednesday.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the Prince of Wales added that relying on "gigantic corporations" for food production, rather than small farmers, would lead to an "absolute disaster".

"What we should be talking about is food security not food production -- that is what matters and that is what people will not understand," the heir to the throne was quoted as saying.

"And if they think it's somehow going to work because they are going to have one form of clever genetic engineering after another then again count me out, because that will be the biggest environmental disaster of all time."

"It's not going backwards. It is actually recognising that we are with nature, not against it. We have gone working against nature for too long."