Scotland had been sending potato seed to 18 nations in the Europe Union between 2020 and 2021. However, variations in trade laws in January of last year mean that Scottish farmers are no longer permitted to sell seed potatoes to the EU, with this change also blocking access to Northern Ireland.
The change seems strange, since there have been no adaptations in UK plant health regulations or drop in quality for this product since Brexit. Although the TSS (Trader Support Service) had been elongated to assist companies in circumnavigating deviations in how goods are exported to Northern Ireland, Scottish seed potato producers are still banned from trading to this region.
According to MP Richard Thomson, the selection of Ranil Jayawardena as the new Defra Secretary presents a new opening to drive access to these markets. Gordon's MP Thomson stated that the Truss government must resume meaningful relations with the EU and reopen Scottish seed potato export markets. He said he has “written to the Secretary of State, asking him to explore new ways in which this can be achieved. One way could involve mirroring the arrangement made for certain locations in Canada to export to named countries within the EU, which my research tells me was achieved in 2000.”
Source: zenopa.com
