The NFU has announced ambitious new plans to support Assured Food Standards (AFS) in taking the increasingly trusted food chain assurance logo, Red Tractor, to another level.

A meeting of the NFU council in Warwickshire endorsed proposals that aim to unify a range of food quality marks under a single Red Tractor brand. Led by a new Red Tractor task force and headed by NFU president Peter Kendall, the proposals will aim to simplify the farm assurance inspection regime. It will give Red Tractor assured farmers, and growers, credit for the high standards they are required to meet by reducing the burden on them of statutory inspections.

Kendall said the Red Tractor had already made huge strides in differentiating quality British produce in the market place, but needed to move on. “The Red Tractor now appears on more than £5.3 billion food products at retail level and Red Tractor Week, which starts on July 9, is a great opportunity to increase consumer recognition of the quality mark and the world class standards of quality and care that it signifies,” he said. “The support we have had for the promotion from the major food retailers is really encouraging and exciting.

“But we need to go further. There are too many quality marks out there. Consumers are confused. We need to build on the growing strength of the Red Tractor by bringing as many other similar schemes under its umbrella as possible and then put serious money behind promoting a single brand.”

Kendall added that another key aim was to simplify the farm assurance regime so that a farm would only need a maximum of one inspection per cycle, no matter how many different schemes it was a member of.

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