Bramley growers in England and Northern Ireland are at loggerheads this week over the latter’s application for protected geographical indicator (PGI) status for Armagh’s production of the famous cooking apple.

Europe’s PGI denomination aims to protect the regional identity of foodstuffs that are produced in a given geographical area, using recognised know-how. While I do not know enough about the growing conditions to comment on a technical level, it does seem strange that the application to label Bramley, best known for originating from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and today grown commercially in a number of regions across the UK, should come from Armagh. Northern Ireland’s Fruit Industry Federation has offered to help any English growers who want to go through the PGI process and has insisted it is not being divisive. But why, with the UK the world’s only commercial grower of Bramley and consumers generally content to buy produce labelled as local or British, is there a need to split the industry for the sake of a PGI?

It is a shame that in what should be a special year for arguably the UK fruit industry’s greatest success, there is contention. Growers in both England and Armagh have been celebrating the Bramley’s bicentenary in style - but notably, not together. Yet again, an instance where an industry working in tandem would yield more power than a group split down the middle.