New Brexit checks ‘pose existential threat’ to UK fruit and flower growers

The UK strawberry industry is heavily reliant on young plant imports from the EU, having imported 100m plants last year. Photograph: Tesco/Ben Stevens/Parsons Media/PA

The UK’s fruit and flower growers face an “existential threat” from new post-Brexit border checks that could damage business and affect next year’s crops, the country’s biggest farming body has said.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) warned that changes to import rules in April, which will impose checks at the border for nearly all young plants coming into the country, could cause long delays and result in plants being damaged or destroyed.