Plant Health

There are many plant pests and diseases, which if they were to become established in Great Britain, could cause serious damage to our crops and plants. Official controls and restrictions on the import, movement and keeping of plants, plant pests and other material e.g. soil are vital to help prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms.

Protecting plant health is a shared responsibility between government, growers, traders and the general public. There are two main elements to plant health. Quarantine measures are taken to keep foreign pests out of areas where they could cause damage to crops, trees and wild plants. Measures are based on a scientific assessment of the risks. They may include rules restricting import and movement of plants and plant produce, or specifying treatments or inspections which have to be carried out. Surveys and publicity increase the chance that outbreaks are detected early while they can still be eradicated. Certification ensures that high quality planting material, substantially free from plant pests and diseases, is available to growers. For example all seed potatoes sold in the UK are certified.

Fera is responsible, on behalf of Defra, for implementing the plant health Regulations in England and Wales (on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government). The Scottish Government is responsible for implementation in Scotland. Separate but similar arrangements apply in Northern Ireland.

Fera, together with the devolved administrations and the Forestry Commission (FC) forms the UK Plant Health Service and works with other EC Member States and the European Commission to agree appropriate plant health rules for Europe and co-ordinate their implementation. A range of services are available to help growers, traders and the general public meet their obligations under these plant health rules.

What's new

16 February 2010 - Outbreak of Citrus Longhorn Beetle in the Netherlands.

8 February 2010 - Outbreak of Potato Brown Rot

18 November 2009 - New research report available: "Studies to evaluate risks posed by Phytophthora kernoviae and Phytophthora ramorum to Vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry) and UK heathlands".

6 November 2009 - Latest Potato brown rot sampling results.

22 October 2009 - Euonymus leaf notcher found in the UK for the first time.

1 October 2009 - The Seed Potatoes (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 came into force.

Review of the EC Plant Health Regime

A review of the Plant Health regime is currently in progress. To download the Review, please click here.