Hundreds of farmers have been left unable to import grass seed from the UK due to Brexit regulations.
Both Cotswold Seeds and Western Seeds revealed that hundreds of Irish farmers have been unable to buy seed from this spring due to ongoing certification delays under Brexit.
John Faulconbridge of Western Seeds said: “Before Brexit, seed was certified the same as EU and we could trade in the EU. However, now the EU will not recognise the UK certification process of seed, even though it has not changed,” he said.
All seed has to be certified and go through stringent testing, which only lasts 10 days. Each seed variety in a mixture must be tested and the certification only lasts 10 days.
“So we cannot market seeds into Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.”
A spokesperson for Cotswold Seeds said smaller seed companies affected most by the increased paperwork. “It used to be very straightforward to export seed to Ireland but now it is very complicated. For a company like ours it’s almost prohibitive.”
Cork dairy farmer and organic cheese producer Frank Shinnick has no suitable seed to sow. He uses a seed mixture of kale, rape seed and stubble turnips – from Western Seeds.
“Western Seeds are decades old and have been breeding these seeds for that length. If I have to buy conventional seeds, they will need fungicides and it won’t be organic,” he said.
LSL News.