Post-Brexit checks hit UK salad veg supply

British greenhouse growers are imploring the government to help UK businesses stay in business and ensure home-grown salad crops remain on UK shelves.

UK tomato, cucumber and pepper growers say they are “extremely concerned” about the viability of next year’s crop due to delays caused by post-Brexit checks on imported seeds and plants at the UK-EU border.

The group of producers, known as British protected edibles growers, say new Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) controls brought in earlier this year are posing a significant threat to plant and seed health, and are already causing significant delays to seed and plants reaching their final destinations.

Rather than strengthening biosecurity, food and plant health is actually being compromised by phytosanitary checks taking place at government border control points (BCPs), and should instead be conducted by member businesses, the group argues.

In an open letter published today (4 December), the grower group said not enough is being done by government to develop workable solutions to this pressing issue.

“The next eight weeks is a short, but critical window in the UK Protected Edibles calendar, with growers importing seeds and/or young plants into the UK in preparation for next season’s crop, ensuring supermarket shelves are well stocked with high quality British produce in 2025,” the group said.

Key concerns

The letter outlined the group’s key concerns about the post-Brexit import rules. These included:

• Significant delays in the release of seeds for sowing and plants for planting, thus causing major supply chain disruption to the UK protected edibles industry.
• Inadequate biosecurity measures, cross-contamination risk, lack of careful handling and uncontrolled holding conditions.
• Seed testing delays of over six weeks, primarily caused by the turnround times for additional plant pathogen testing (already carried out at source), which makes crop programming and planning extremely difficult.

The letter says that seed of European origin is already tested and certified to an equivalent standard as disease-free before being dispatched to GB, making additional testing in the UK an unnecessary, costly and time-consuming duplication.

A reciprocal phytosanitary agreement with the EU would mitigate many of these delays in this respect, it said.

The letter adds that there is evidence that due to these delays and difficulties getting seed through border controls, European seed suppliers are less inclined to dispatch to the UK.

This particularly applies to essential early multiplication of new virus-resistant varieties, which will limit industry progress in varietal innovation, especially regarding addressing key disease concerns such as Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (ToBRFV).

“Growers are already working to tight timelines and narrow profitability margins, so this issue is increasing economic pressures on a system that is already hugely challenging, causing enormous risk to individual business viability and the nation’s food supply of these important food crops,” the letter adds.

Solutions

The grower group says Defra, PHSI and APHA must work with growers to rapidly and appropriate resolve the above issues.

• An assured fast-track process is needed that maintains GB competitiveness, is rational, economically sustainable, streamlined, minimises delays and ensures any delays are pre-planned and predictable.
• An agreement that young, protected edibles plants (especially tomatoes and pepper crops) will not be tested at Border Control Points, but only on a phytosanitary secure, grower site or at registered Control Points that are adequately set up to meet the unique biosecurity and crop management needs of these crops.
• Faster, more efficient process for grower sites registering as Control Points to ensure these sites are established in time for the import window.
• A reciprocal phytosanitary agreement regarding seed testing with the EU to mitigate delays and duplication of testing of already cleared, healthy seed.
• If plants must travel through BCPs, the standard operations procedure (SOPs) at these sites need to be constructed in partnership with growers. Full and visible accountability for auditing that stated process should be the responsibility of APHA.
• Defra and APHA need to work more closely with growers and grower associations to better understand the best approach to achieve the necessary bio-security outcomes we all have an interest in achieving. The BTOM model is very much ‘work in progress’ in this respect regarding these economically important food crops.

The letter concludes: “We are in support of the NFU’s comments and actions on this issue. We implore government to help us come to practical and realistic solution to allow UK protected edibles businesses to continue to viably operate and ensure British salad crops remain on UK shelves.”