Heirloom tomatoes post Brexit

[TrixC]

Today I received an email from a seed company I occasionally order from announcing that from 1 January “new rules coming in” (ahem) meant they were no longer able to stock most varieties of heirloom tomatoes. And went on to suggest that these varieties would be “disappearing from the UK for good”.

Does anyone know what this is about? I’m not trying to start a conversation about politics but are a lot of the heirloom seeds we grow sourced from the EU, so we won’t be able to get them after 1 Jan? Surely there’s nothing to stop a UK seed company growing them here for seed production?

[Goldcrest]

Hi TrixC

I asked the same question earlier - see "seeds plants from the EU post 2020"!

[TrixC]

Ah right, just read your thread. I guess I just don’t understand why it would affect heirloom tomato varieties specifically? Or how they can definitively state that these varieties will never be available in the UK again. I love growing heirloom tomatoes and found this rather alarming!

[burnie]

I'm sure there will be plenty of growers both sides of the channel/north sea that will continue trading in plants and seeds, there maybe extra taxes to pay, but all traders will wish to keep all their markets available in order for their businesses to thrive. I remember talk before we joined the common market was mostly proved to be wrong and I expect it to be the same we've left. What I hope to see is British businesses filling the gaps so we can buy from home and remove the air/boat miles.