New requirements will allow Scottish seed potatoes back into the Northern Irish market from autumn this year, according to a Defra minister.
Following the Windsor Framework, Minister of State at Defra Lord Benyon said that previously banned seed potatoes will be able to move from GB to NI as they do in the rest of the UK.
Those moving seed potatoes will be inspected and approved by an authority annually which will allow traders to print and apply the plant label themselves, he said.
Regarding the timeline for introduction of these requirements for seed potatoes, Lord Benyon said he expected the new requirements will come into force later this year, in autumn.
Prior to the UK leaving the European Union, Scottish seed potatoes were a crucial import for markets in Northern Ireland and the continent.
More than 75 percent of Britain's seed potato exports comes from Scotland, with the country exporting seed to 18 EU countries in 2020/21.
However, since January 2021, Scottish farmers have been unable to export seed potatoes to NI and the EU because of changes in trade regulations.
Gordon MP Richard Thomson, who is leading efforts to restore access for Scottish seed potatoes, said the new development was 'welcome progress'.
However, he said that exporters would still be looking to resume exporting to their former EU and rest of Ireland markets, on which "progress has been limited".
The SNP MP said: “I’m delighted that at long last, after so much lobbying and cajoling, we now at least have a definitive answer to when Scottish seed potatoes can be exported to Northern Ireland.
“While it is undoubtedly good news for exporters that they will once again be able to get their product into NI, no-one should be in any doubt that this is just a first step along the road to where Scotland needs to be, and that is to have our export markets in the EU fully restored.
“The disruption of not even being able to get seed potatoes into another part of the UK... is something that should not be forgotten nor that neither Scotland nor Northern Ireland voted for this chaos in the first place.”
