The Red Tractor and its role in farm assurance is set to undergo a major overhaul under plans announced by the NFU and Assured Food Standards this week.
At a meeting of the NFU Council in Warwickshire it was agreed that a new Red Tractor task force would be set up under the leadership of the union’s president, Peter Kendall. Its remit will be to simplify the farm assurance inspection regime and give AFS growers ‘credit for the high standards they are required to meet by reducing the burden on them of statutory inspections.’
Crucially, the Council agreed proposals that would see a range of food quality marks unified under a single Red Tractor brand. In practice it is hoped that this could mean that assurance audits would be simplified so that a farm would only need a maximum of one inspection per cycle, regardless of how many schemes it was a member of.
The idea is to produce a single set of standards covering aspects common to all farmers and growers, supplemented by individual protocols for the various farm products and subject to a single annual inspection, Kendall explained.
The revamp coincides with the inaugural Red Tractor Week, which will be launched on July 9 at an event in Covent Garden, where MPs will be seen racing on mini red tractors supplied by Massey Ferguson.
Futher event support will see AFS doing cookery demonstrations at three Tesco stores and Red Tractor food handed out to consumers. The Week will also be backed via a series of NFU-produced posters reminding Why Red Tractor Matters.
Kendall said that Red Tractor Week represented a good opportunity for the industry to raise consumer recognition of the marque and the high class quality standards that it represents. He also said that the promotion has received encouraging support from retailers.
“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 insisted.
Kendall went on to say that it is essential that the standards growers have to meet are relected in a ‘less demanding statutory inspection regime.’
“The golden rule is that no farmer or grower should be inspected twice for compliance with any single standard. Once is enough,” he asserted.
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