At the NFU AGM David Miliband announced that he wanted to work with growers, retailers, environmental organisations and existing assurance bodies on whether it was possible to agree on a green standard that allows consumers to know something about the environmental provenance of what they buying.

Now I do not want to appear to be a denier of climate change or even anti the environment, but I am very concerned as to what this might mean for UK growers.

Taking my own case as an example. The peas that I grow for freezing are all produced within 40 miles of the processing plant which is local in anyone’s understanding of the term.

However, because my peas are then frozen they are likely to have a higher carbon score than imported hand picked peas from the other side of the world. Will the measurement of environmental provenance include the impact of plane emissions at 30,000ft or would that be too simple?

Similarly as part of our pea contract with our customer we have developed standards which we believe are sustainable in all the meanings of that word. How could that be taken into account in any measurement of the provenance of my crop?

So for me a number of urgent questions need to be considered before we venture too far down this particularly rocky path. First and foremost, it is vital that a way is found of auditing the whole lifecycle impact of food and non-food from production to distribution. Without this a simple measurement of carbon is at best meaningless and at worst misleading.

Second, will our competitors from around the globe be faced with the same type of regulation and actually have it policed as we do? I am bound to say no but that should not be a reason for not doing it as long as we ensure that our growers get recognition in the market place.

Finally, will retailers stick to one model of measurement or will they want to claim their own points of difference by developing their own schemes? The answer is yes and that is why I think it’s important that we get the basics right now. For that at least I welcome Defra’s intention of working with the industry.

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