38 I SEED WORLD EUROPE I SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | OCTOBER 2026 A NEW WAVE OF EU AGREEMENTS COULD LOWER BARRIERS, SIMPLIFY PROCEDURES AND IMPROVE PREDICTABILITY FOR PLANT BREEDERS AND SEED COMPANIES, BUT THE REAL TEST WILL BE IN IMPLEMENTATION. BY: MARCEL BRUINS E urope’s trade agenda is moving at speed. In recent months, the EU has concluded negotiations with Australia, India and Indonesia, moved ahead with Mexico, and brought the EU Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement into provisional application. For many sectors, the headlines are about cars, dairy, wine, services or crit ical raw materials. For the plant breeding and seed sector, the story is more specific, and arguably more technical. Seed is not just another traded good. It is high value, time sensitive, highly reg ulated and often moved across borders several times before it reaches a farmer. A variety may be bred in one country, tested in another, multiplied elsewhere and commer cialised across several markets. That makes trade agreements relevant not only because of tariffs, but because of rules on plant health, certification, labelling, customs pro cedures, intellectual property, technical bar riers and the movement of specialised staff. The EU’s own assessment of its trade agreements is that they support export diversification and supply chain stability. In 2024, EU goods exports to preferen tial trade partners grew twice as much as exports to countries without a free trade agreement, while agrifood exports to preferential trade partners also grew faster than those to non-FTA partners. For seed companies, that broader trend matters because diversified markets can reduce dependency on a small number of destinations and provide more options when political, phytosanitary or logistical disruptions appear. Seed World Europe has seen similar dynamics in its coverage of Ukraine’s seed exports and EU integration, where market access, regulatory alignment and resilient export channels have become central to the sector’s ability to keep seed moving. According to Garlich von Essen, Euroseeds secretary general and CEO, this broader trade agenda is also linked to Europe’s ability to act collectively. “The competence for external trade policies and negotiations of respective agreements lies and border procedures remain central to practical seed movement. Where the agree ment improves transparency, risk-based procedures and alignment with interna tional standards, it could reduce friction for companies moving seed, parental lines, research material or trial samples between Europe and Mercosur. Claudius Marondedze, Euroseeds technical manager plant health and seed trade says the most relevant provisions for seed companies are those that affect seed movement in practice. These include sani tary and phytosanitary measures, transpar ency obligations, the recognition and use of international standards, administrative and customs procedures, rules of origin, and any flexibility on labelling or documentation. “For seed companies, these issues are of great importance, because delays, incon sistent phytosanitary interpretations or burdensome paperwork can interrupt trade even where market access exists on paper,” he says. In the Mercosur context, Marondedze says companies will be especially interested in whether the agreement supports science-based plant health measures, clearer certification requirements, more predictable border procedures and faster resolution of tech nical trade frictions. “From a seed trade perspective, imple mentation will be critical and greater certainty will be key to unlocking market access benefits. Companies will pay close attention at how plant health provisions, rules of origin, labelling flexibility, international standards and administrative pro cedures are applied in practice.” The indirect effects may also be important. Mercosur is a major agricultural region, and greater trade pre TRADE DEALS OPEN NEW ROUTES FOR EUROPE’S SEED SECTOR exclusively with the EU, not with Member States. This has always enabled Europe to better leverage the considerable economic weight of all its Member States in such discussions,” he says. In the current geo political context, he adds, this is increas ingly being combined with the objective of strengthening economic resilience through more diversified partnerships. “In short: having more partners makes you less dependent than having only one.” For Europe’s seed sector, he says, trade agreements are valuable when they support open, predictable and science-based policies and regulatory frameworks. “The benefits are not only found in tariff schedules, but in the ability of breeders and seed compa nies to move high-quality seed and plant reproductive material across borders under supportive, workable rules.” MERCOSUR: THE MOST IMMEDIATE TEST CASE The EU Mercosur agreement is the most immediate development because the Interim Trade Agreement provisionally was applied 1 May 2026. The agreement covers Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, four countries with major agricultural pro duction systems and significant relevance for field crops, forages, horticulture and agricultural technology. The Commission says the deal aims to increase bilateral trade and investment, lower tariff and non-tariff barriers, and create more stable and pre dictable rules, including on intellectual property rights, food safety standards, competition and good regulatory practices. For the seed sector, the practical importance will depend less on the political headline and more on the technical chap ters. Seed trade can be slowed or blocked by inconsistent phytosanitary requirements, duplicative documentation, uncertainty over pest status, unclear labelling rules and slow administrative procedures. These are not theoretical concerns. Seed World Europe has previously explored similar issues in the context of EU UK SPS negotiations, where plant health rules, documentation
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