British salad seeds importers have raised concerns over the impact that post-Brexit border controls could have on imports and the 2025 harvest. 

According to the sector, the new Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), which introduced stricter controls on EU plant and animal goods entering the UK earlier this year, is posing a “critical challenge” to plant and seed imports, The Grocer reported.

Growers importing seeds and young plants for the 2025 season have said they are facing significant delays at the border following the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls implemented after Brexit.

Trade bodies the British Tomato Growers’ Association and the Cucumber & Pepper Growers’ Association told the title that “inadequate” checks at Border Control Posts (BCPs) are “jeopardising the health and quality of seeds and plants”.

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They argue that the current processes are putting the industry’s embedded biosecure supply chain at risk, causing growers to experience testing delays of more than six weeks in some cases. This makes crop programming and planning “extremely difficult”. 

European suppliers are now becoming less inclined to export to the UK due to the difficulties in getting seeds through border controls after Brexit.

The industry is working with Defra, the Animal & Plant Health Agency and the National Farmers Union to resolve these issues. However, growers associations claim that not enough is being done to develop safe and workable solutions.

The Labour government has pledged to negotiate an SPS agreement with the EU, which would largely reduce or eliminate some of the current border controls.