Grow and sell crops: seed, spraying and certification

This guide is for crop growers — combinable crops, fresh produce, and vineyards — covering the certification and input rules that attach to growing and selling in England, with the main Welsh and Scottish administrative differences noted. The water and nutrient side (Farming Rules for Water, NVZ rules) and the payment schemes have their own guides, routed at the end.

A. Seed — certification before marketing

Most agricultural seed may only be marketed if it is of a variety on the relevant National List and has been certified. In England and Wales APHA administers seed certification under the Seed Marketing Regulations 2011, with official testing at the Official Seed Testing Station run by NIAB (Wales has an equivalent instrument). In Scotland it is SASA. If you grow seed crops for sale, build field inspections and sampling into the season.

B. Pesticides — competence and testing

Everyone who applies plant protection products professionally needs a certificate of competence — grandfather rights ended on 26 November 2015. Spray equipment must pass National Sprayer Testing Scheme (NSTS) tests on the statutory cycle, and anyone advising on pesticide use needs BASIS qualification. NRoSO membership is a voluntary CPD register that assurance schemes such as Red Tractor require — it is never a substitute for certificates.

C. Vineyards and wine

Plant more than 0.1 hectares of vines and you must register the vineyard with the Food Standards Agency's wine standards team within six months, then make annual harvest and production returns. Making wine for sale needs an alcoholic products producer approval (APPA) from HMRC — the approval regime that replaced producer licences from 1 February 2025 — and duty is charged by alcoholic strength. Small Producer Relief only applies below 8.5% ABV, so most still wine is ineligible. Importing vines brings plant health controls.

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