
Graham Spencer
5.4K posts

Graham Spencer
@grahampfe
Plants For Europe is an independent plant breeders' agent. I own the company and use Twitter to provide updates on the business & to link to interesting stuff!



150 trucks 'stuck at BCP Sevington' hortweek.com/article/1889187 #horticulture #Brexit #imports #Plants @grahampfe @BritishGrowers @BOA_homegrown @HTAnews

NEW 🧮 comprehensive Brexit trade analysis suggests hit from new trade barriers worsening in 2023 as UK decouples from EU supply chains… uses 3 full years data to analyse trends by sector/ sub sector/ nation 27% export hit vs its no Brexit model: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…








🚨 Nurseries and garden centres across Britain and Europe have warned that new post-Brexit border posts are not working properly and are leading to delays, damage and significant extra costs for importers bringing plants into Britain. 🆘 The Horticultural Trade Association, which represents 1,400 garden retailers and growers in the UK, has joined forces with several European trade bodies to write an open letter to call for urgent solutions, warning the new system was adding more than 25% to import costs. It said the checks introduced in April had held up a significant number of deliveries at the border, sometimes for as long as 44 hours, while difficulties carrying out inspections were increasing the chance of harmful pests and plant diseases entering Britain. Importers claim the posts are too small to process goods from multiple lorries, and they said there is insufficient equipment at nearly all facilities to unload plants such as large trees or those large plants not stacked into plant trolleys. The trade bodies said the new system is causing delays and piling on costs. One haulage company said it experienced 93 hours of driver waiting time in the first week of the checks, costing it £38,000 in extra pay. And loads are being “observed, rather than intensely scrutinised”, which was increasing the chance of diseases being missed, while the lack of information on what was being checked was leaving some end customers in the dark about the health of plants they received. In one case, checks on a load of 50 mature olive trees were abandoned because of difficulties unloading. The letter said: “Olive trees are a well-known host for Xylella fastidiosa, a very high-risk and damaging bacterial disease. “The end customer would have expected and paid for the at-border check … Yet the business received no information about what had happened and why, nor was it aware that those trees had an incomplete check.” theguardian.com/politics/artic…








When it comes to farmers there is an unstated party that is central to what has happened since 2016 - the Treasury. Which institutionally believes that UK food production should not be subsidised. Big problem - no politician dare say the same... ft.com/content/fefc33…

