diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index bc9c62d..7f0751d 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -34,16 +34,16 @@ RoxygenNote: 7.3.2
 Imports: 
     targets (>= 1.8.0),
     rlang (>= 1.1.3),
-    cli (>= 3.6.2)
+    cli (>= 3.6.2),
+    terra (>= 1.7.71),
+    withr (>= 3.0.0),
+    zip
 Suggests: 
     crew (>= 0.9.2),
     ncmeta,
     sf,
     stars,
-    terra (>= 1.7.71),
-    testthat (>= 3.0.0),
-    withr (>= 3.0.0),
-    zip
+    testthat (>= 3.0.0)
 Config/testthat/edition: 3
 URL: https://github.com/njtierney/geotargets, https://njtierney.github.io/geotargets/
 BugReports: https://github.com/njtierney/geotargets/issues
diff --git a/R/tar-terra-rast.R b/R/tar-terra-rast.R
index cc664ce..29ee599 100644
--- a/R/tar-terra-rast.R
+++ b/R/tar-terra-rast.R
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ tar_terra_rast <- function(name,
                            retrieval = targets::tar_option_get("retrieval"),
                            cue = targets::tar_option_get("cue"),
                            description = targets::tar_option_get("description")) {
-    check_pkg_installed("terra")
 
     filetype <- filetype %||% "GTiff"
 
diff --git a/R/tar-terra-sprc.R b/R/tar-terra-sprc.R
index 576e818..943c6d3 100644
--- a/R/tar-terra-sprc.R
+++ b/R/tar-terra-sprc.R
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ tar_terra_sprc <- function(name,
                            retrieval = targets::tar_option_get("retrieval"),
                            cue = targets::tar_option_get("cue"),
                            description = targets::tar_option_get("description")) {
-    check_pkg_installed("terra")
     #ensure that user-passed `resources` doesn't include `custom_format`
     if ("custom_format" %in% names(resources)) {
         cli::cli_abort("{.val custom_format} cannot be supplied to targets created with {.fn tar_terra_sprc}")
@@ -184,7 +183,6 @@ tar_terra_sds <- function(name,
                           retrieval = targets::tar_option_get("retrieval"),
                           cue = targets::tar_option_get("cue"),
                           description = targets::tar_option_get("description")) {
-    check_pkg_installed("terra")
     #ensure that user-passed `resources` doesn't include `custom_format`
     if ("custom_format" %in% names(resources)) {
         cli::cli_abort("{.val custom_format} cannot be supplied to targets created with {.fn tar_terra_sprc}")
diff --git a/R/tar-terra-vect.R b/R/tar-terra-vect.R
index 34545ab..8d8659d 100644
--- a/R/tar-terra-vect.R
+++ b/R/tar-terra-vect.R
@@ -62,8 +62,6 @@ tar_terra_vect <- function(name,
                            retrieval = targets::tar_option_get("retrieval"),
                            cue = targets::tar_option_get("cue"),
                            description = targets::tar_option_get("description")) {
-    check_pkg_installed("terra")
-
     filetype <- filetype %||% "GeoJSON"
     gdal <- gdal %||% "ENCODING=UTF-8"