UK secures equivalence status for its seeds
The UK had been exporting an estimated 30,000 tonnes of seed potatoes to EU countries, worth £13.5m, the majority of which comes from Scotland.
The EU has granted equivalence status to the UK for the purposes of production and marketing of fodder crop, beet, cereal, and oilseed seeds in EU member states.
As a result of Brexit, there had been problems in the importation of seeds from GB.
A prohibition was placed on the importation of certified seeds from England, Scotland, and Wales from January 1, 2021 pending discussions on equivalency agreements.
The UK subsequently applied to the EU to have seeds of certain agricultural crop species deemed equivalent for production and marketing purposes.
Seed of the aforementioned species produced in the UK may now be freely marketed in Ireland, provided they comply with EU plant health and customs regulations.
The UK has also applied to the EU for ‘equivalence status’ for vegetable seeds, and this application is currently being processed at EU level.
However, there has been less progress in resolving the EU’s refusal to authorise the export of seed potatoes from Britain since January 1, 2021.
Instead, the UK’s Department for Food, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has retaliated by restricting imports of seed potatoes from the EU.
A six-month grace period had allowed imports from European countries since the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1. But UK ministers said they will now consider applications to market imported seed potatoes from the EU on a case-by-case basis, following an industry-wide consultation.
Brussels banned the export of seed potatoes from the UK to the EU after the Brexit Trade and Co-operation Agreement failed to agree equivalence on the goods.
The UK had been exporting an estimated 30,000 tonnes of seed potatoes to EU countries, worth £13.5m, the majority of which comes from Scotland.
IFA continues to lobby on this matter, and for the potato seed sector to be included in the Brexit Adjustment Reserve fund announced by the EU.
About 6,000t of the seed potatoes from the UK were estimated to be going to Ireland, with 60% of the certified seed that is planted in Ireland coming from Scotland.
Earlier this year, Teagasc advised potato growers to address seed availability for 2022, because no agreement between the EU and UK to allow seed export to the EU would leave fewer Scottish growers planting seed for EU markets, especially of niche varieties like Rooster.
Growers were advised to act early and find out what seed alternatives are open to them, and to contact the Department of Agriculture to register fields and take soil samples etc, if growers opt to use home saved seed.
In 2016, Ireland was producing 253ha of seed potatoes; by 2020 this dropped back to 229ha.
It might be hard to expand this, although Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue has said he is keen to see seed potato production expand.
Seed potato imports from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Northern Ireland, may replace some of the seed from Great Britain.
Ireland is one of a small number of areas officially recognised in EU legislation as a high-grade seed area to produce seed potatoes, because the country is free from a number of significant potato diseases that occur in Meanwhile, in the Uk, a Defra spokesperson said: “We also continue to press the EU to reconsider its position, in line with its own regulations, on the import of seed potatoes from Great Britain to the EU.” The National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland said it hopes the decision taken by the UK government not to extend authorisation to EU seed imports will bring fresh impetus to talks that will agree equivalence and allow Scottish seed potato exports to resume.
The UK is broadly self-sufficient for seed potatoes, so its ban on imports from the EU (a trade of up to 10,000 tonnes per year) is unlikely to be lifted unless there is progress in talks with the EU.
The Chair of NFU Scotland’s Potatoes working group, Mike Wilson said: “We welcome that the UK government’s allowance for EU seed potatoes to be sold to GB has now officially been ended. This means that potato growers throughout Britain will have to source their seed from within Britain, which is good news for Scotland’s seed potato sector.”
