Since the UK government struck a deal with the EU over Brexit, the Northern Ireland border has been causing trading issues with British horticulture businesses. Now that the UK is no longer in the EU, there are now trading conditions. These conditions entail getting plant health certificates when trading with NI, which take time and money to obtain, and include multiple inspections throughout the supply chain process to ensure that they are compliant to EU regulations. This of course takes time and money, which in turn will cause UK businesses to think again when trading.
There are also specific plants that are now considered high risk and are now banned from being sent to NI including oak and honeysuckle, GB seed potatoes, Privet Hedge, English Yews and Elm Trees. The main reason for this is to reduce the spread of soil diseases from the UK to the EU.
However, what are considered to be low-risk mediums, such as peat, are allowed. This stirs some more issues due to the nature of peat and its environmental impact. The government is therefore inadvertently promoting the use of peat after years of discouraging it. These new laws will encourage a surge in the use of peat in plant-growing which will have important consequences on the destruction of peat bogs. These bogs are the most efficient carbon sink on our planet and hold large quantities of toxic gasses, which are released into the atmosphere when disturbed, consequently fuelling climate change. It is unlikely however that UK businesses will alter their growing customs, which will mean that Northern Ireland will be left feeling isolated from their neighbours, and forced to outsource from countries further afield.
Another nonsensical aspect of these border rules is that Irish companies are able to order plants as far away as Italy and Poland just because they are in the EU. However, these imports cost considerably more than what businesses are used to before Brexit, and these plants just aren’t the same quality as British plants - as the difference in climate means they are less hardy and therefore less likely to survive the harsher weather in NI, which isn’t an issue with plants from the UK, as the climate is similar to that of NI.
Brexit has brought up issues that were overlooked during the referendum that will have an important impact on family-run and independent businesses on both sides. Northern Ireland will feel the impact of being cut off from the UK, as will the UK feel the impact of the loss of sales due to the difficulty of trading, which is induced by the restrictions on soil entering EU territories as well as the multiple checks that are required for produce to be signed off to enter Norther Ireland. Not only this, but allowing peat-based soil to be sent over the border seems like a considerable step backward for the environment. The logic of these restrictions is frustrating, considering the the only aspect that has changed is the border, and not the circumstances in which the plants are grown.
What are your thoughts on and experiences of these current restrictions and regulations?
Comments
Hello Fleur,
Haven't the vast majority of plants being sold in the UK been imported for decades, notably from Holland 71%, Kenya 6% ,Colombia 3.9%, (youGov 2019) Italy and elsewhere. Didn't this lead to a collaspe in the UK hort industry, as a consequence of being under cut.
The climate in the UK varies considerably as do the daylight hours. Our Yorkshire grown plants are indeed more hardy, but then the plants that you can grow varies massively. To say British plants are superior because they are British, is a bit of blanket statement. We've found a huge range in quality of British plants, our go to choice.
Plants grown in the SW of UK are just as likely to be unacclimatised as plants from Italy say for a NI market. But then plants from Poland & Germany with notable cold winters might be just fine.
The fact that 'Peat' products will be able to go to Ireland is slightly ironic, as so much Peat comes from there i,e, Erin & Bord da Mona
Any biz should have been well versed with the likely difficulties that Brexit would create. We've had five years to think about it and take action accordingly.
It was inevitable, that chaos would happen, such is life living in the UK
At the risk of getting political..
The govt proposed this whole thing to quell internal factions in n the Tort party. They have had 5 years to calmly negotiate a good deal....but left it to the last chance saloon.
What we have is a mess for NI, for fishermen and for many other groups. Imo a complete disaster for the UK 😡😡
A couple of weeks ago I had to go over to Cambridgeshire, a trip that takes me along the M6 and A14, normally if I do this trip I see a considerable number of Irish lorries hauling potatoes and cereals from the East of England to Ireland along with lorries transferring goods from the docks at Felixstowe.
Quite often I will see the same lorries twice, going to be loaded and again on the way home. However on my last trip I did not see any Irish lorries at all, there were a reduced number of EU lorries in general, but not any Irish lorries at all.
I’m not sure what deal has been done regarding potatoes and cereals into the EU frothe UK, but to me it looks like exports are not going as they were.
https://ahdb.org.uk/news/trade-with-the-island-of-ireland-and-what-...