More stringent border checks of produce imports coming into UK won’t happen until July 2025
The UK government on Friday pushed back potential border checks of medium-risk fresh produce items coming from the European Union to 1 July 2025. The checks, which potentially could have thrown businesses and the entire fruit and vegetable import supply chain into turmoil, originally were set for 1 January 2025. The temporary easing will give […]
New Defra proposal would term some produce coming from the EU as ‘medium- or high-risk’
The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has proposed regulatory changes that would reclassify half of all fresh produce imports from the European Union to Great Britain as medium- or high-risk. The proposed changes pertain to Annex 11 of the retained Implementing Regulation 2019/2072. The proposal prompted a response from the European Fresh Produce Association […]
DEFRA Secretary calls new Norwich vertical farm ‘brilliant example’ of UK’s growing innovation
DEFRA Secretary of State Steve Barclay recently toured the newest vertical farm under the Fischer Farms name in Norwich and offered this positive takeaway of the future of food production in the UK. “We have some of the world’s leading agri-tech innovators here in the UK, and I’m a firm believer in the potential of […]
British Berry Growers launch policy board in hopes of ‘securing future’ of industry
British Berry Growers, which represent nearly all of the commercial soft fruit growers in the UK, have formed a Campaign and Policy board to advocate for the industry’s pressing needs. “The value of UK berry production is an estimated £800 million at farm gate and accounts for approximately 33,000 jobs across the country,” Nick Marston, […]
Can Defra’s new schemes that aim to ‘save the planet’ really help farmers rebound?
UK farmers who have been battered by a range of challenges that include labour shortages and rising costs will be getting at least some relief from the government’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) plan, according to Defra. Defra announced on Thursday it will offer farms up to £1,000 extra in grants provided they can be both […]
UK apple suppliers welcome Enhanced Trade Partnership with India
Expanding the UK’s export horizons opens the door for growers to achieve superior prices for larger apple sizes not demanded by domestic retailers. Growers and exporters in the UK have welcomed the signing of an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) between the UK and India to facilitate the supply of fresh apples. The opportunities in India […]
Consumer demand helps spark increase in organic land conversion
As shoppers are changing their habits toward embracing more organic food, so too are farmers across the UK, according to the latest Organic Statistics for 2020 report from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). There has been a more than 11% increase in the conversion of land to become certified organic – […]
