Endorsements of the Farm Assurance Review
From members of the Red Tractor Board
All involved with Red Tractor want farmers to feel heard, involved and proud to be part of Red Tractor. The detailed response published today is testament to our genuine commitment to deliver real change for farmers.
The Farm Assurance Review has offered us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take stock of how assurance does and doesn’t work for producers, and a renewed focus on delivering tangible, positive change for them. Our commitments balance rigour and speed while also ensuring Red Tractor continues to deliver value for farmers and reassurance to customers.
This review is a turning point for farm assurance in the UK. It is a call to action for all farm assurance schemes to deliver better outcomes for farmers and producers.
Where possible, Red Tractor has committed to immediate action, prioritising improvements where we can have most impact. For more complex issues where there is a need or opportunity to work with others, Red Tractor has already written to those involved to offer collaboration and looks forward to working them if requested to do so.
I welcome the positive response to the Farm Assurance Review from Red Tractor and the input from all the sector boards. It demonstrates a desire to listen and make changes where appropriate.
The key now is that we collectively use this opportunity as a reset moment, giving farmers a stronger voice in assurance, delivering better outcomes for everyone involved. I feel we are now on the right track, ready to make positive changes at pace.
The Farm Assurance Report has given the industry the firepower to drive positive change. The response to this report from Red Tractor demonstrates their clear commitment to improvement. The actions outlined are significant in ensuring the future success of assurance.
Retailers support Red Tractor because it assures customers of the high standard of care that goes into producing British food. However, for standards to work effectively, the farming sector must be engaged, listened to and well-understood. The Farm Assurance Review has helped surface key issues that all assurance schemes need to prioritise.
The Red Tractor Board's response has the collective endorsement of all Board representatives, including retail, and is one that I hope will be welcomed as we work hard to deliver our immediate and future commitments.
In the dairy sector the Farm Assurance Review provides a useful platform from which Red Tractor can redouble its commitment to engage with farmers across all four nations of the United Kingdom, in order to reduce audit burden on farm without diminishing the rigour of our standards. This point in time will be a valuable reference point to measure progress towards those goals.
Click to read the Dairy Sector Board's recent discussion on the Farm Assurance Review
An independent review is not always a comfortable experience but the Farm Assurance Review has created an opportunity for Red Tractor to look at existing practices and embrace change, providing the opportunity to implement new ways of working. This is especially important to the Beef & Lamb sector where communication and representation are key.
Red Tractor has engaged with and seriously considered its response, which is to embrace the recommendations and implement them through collaboration with our stakeholders. Some of the recommendations may be challenging, uncomfortable and not popular with all, but recommendations cannot be 'cherry-picked'.
Click to read the Beef & Lamb Sector Board's recent discussion on the Farm Assurance Review
The Fresh Produce Sector Board unanimously welcomed the findings from the farm assurance review. Audit burden has become an overwhelming issue for the sector and the Board are eager to work collaboratively to address this. Indeed there is appetite to broaden the scope of activity beyond the burden from assurance schemes to include additional retailer and brand audit requirements.
It is essential that the industry works together to eliminate unnecessary duplication which adds both stress and cost to a sector that is under unsustainable strain.
There is enormous potential for Red Tractor to lead the change that is needed, through harnessing it's unique position and better utilising technology such as its online portal. It is also necessary to recognise the role of certification bodies in this activity and to ensure that they are actively included in the development of appropriate solutions.
Click to read the Fresh Produce Sector Board's recent discussion on the Farm Assurance Review
The Pig Sector Board is dedicated to delivering the relevant recommendations listed in the Farm Assurance Review. Working with our processor and retail colleagues we will invest in a particular focus on reducing audit duplication and refining standards, including new standards to meet the whole industry's needs.
Click to read the Pigs Sector Board's recent discussion on the Farm Assurance Review
The UK FAR calls for action on all parts of the combinable crops sector which, as chair of the Red Tractor Combinable Crops and Sugar Beet Board, I fully support. It also signals the opportunity for us to re-engage with farmers, rebuilding trust and confidence. Red Tractor will undertake all of the steps suggested of it in the UKFAR.
Combinable crops is the only sector singled out for specific recommendations with wider crops supply chain organisations and AHDB identified to lead this work. The RT team is fully committed to helping and supporting all these stakeholders to establish how best to address the import equivalence challenge for the sector.
I am looking forward to working with the poultry sector board to improve communications with farmers, increase the consistency of audits and improve technology to reduce audit burden.
On behalf of BMPA and its membership I welcome the FAR and the opportunity to deliver material change for a modern, efficient and valued Farm Assurance system that delivers benefits for the whole supply chain. Key within this is resetting relationships with the farming community as equitable partners that are invested in delivering assurance that is agile to meet changing needs, eases the audit burden and makes greater use of technology .
I look forward to using our position along with the rest of the board to seize this opportunity to deliver the much needed actions committed to by the Red Tractor Board and leadership team as part of the FAR review.
The British Poultry Council welcome the findings of the Farm Assurance Review. We look forward to working with the Red Tractor team to apply the recommendations and build on the foundations already in place.
