Post-Brexit Crop Exports To EU Slide As Industry Pushes To Protect Gene-Editing Gains

British agricultural exports of crops to the EU have continued to shrink in the five years since Brexit, according to analysis of HM Revenue & Customs data by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) — and as trade talks with Brussels unfold, farmers and industry leaders are urging the government not to sacrifice hard-won advances in plant innovation, particularly gene-editing, in pursuit of a deal.

Overall farm exports to the EU fell by 37.4 per cent between 2019, the last full year before Brexit, and 2024. While meat and dairy figures have attracted much attention, arable and horticultural crop sectors have also been affected by post-border friction and regulatory divergence.

At the same time, the UK’s regulatory landscape for crop innovation has shifted significantly since leaving the EU. England has now implemented the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023, which allows the commercial cultivation of gene-edited crops capable of enhanced disease resistance, improved yields and other beneficial traits not typically achievable through conventional breeding.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw has been clear in evidence to Parliament that maintaining the UK’s edge in plant gene-editing and related technologies must be a priority in UK-EU negotiations. Both the NFU and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee have called for explicit exemptions or “carve-outs” to protect the country’s gene-editing regime within any future sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU — so that British innovation isn’t inadvertently rolled back in the pursuit of smoother market access.

Under current proposals to align the UK’s and EU’s SPS regimes — which would cover rules on plants and plant products as well as food safety and animal health — there is a risk that divergence on emerging technologies like precision breeding could complicate how UK-grown crops are regulated and traded with the EU.

Industry voices argue that the UK’s more progressive approach to gene editing could become a competitive advantage globally but could be undermined if regulatory alignment with the EU is too rigid or rushed. Without careful negotiation and transitional arrangements, crops developed under Britain’s current science-based system risk falling out of step with EU standards, potentially limiting export opportunities even as trade barriers are eased.

As Westminster and Brussels resume talks on the SPS framework, the farming sector is watching closely. The outcome could shape not just trade volumes in traditional crop markets, but the future of agricultural innovation and how British growers compete on the world stage.