I did ask our NFU friend for a poll of nfu members that keep beef
Red Tractor Beef lifetime Assurance.
- Thread starter gone up the hill
- Start date
- Location
- North Somerset.
Move the clock forward 5 years, Whole Life Farm Assurance has been introduced, Red Tractor has decided that no animal that goes through a livestock market can be Assured and there is nothing you can do about it.
At the moment buyers have to compete for your calves.
In five years time a buyer workng for the supply chain dominated by the supermarkets will come to your farm to tell you what to breed and what they will pay for it.
The markets where they have to compete for calves, will be gone and there will be no way back.
You will be paid less for your calves not more because that is the way the supermarket business model works. They are determined to dictate to producers what they will pay. They do not want to compete hence their wish to use Farm Assurance as a means of destroying that competition.
If you sign up you will cut your own throat.
I for one will not be signing up. I would rather sell up because I do not wish to be a servant tugging my forelock to any buyer, that is why my stock go through the livestock markets where they have to compete.
When this happens and the markets have gone you will have no one else to blame but yourself.
Farmer's are their own worst enemies in failing to co operate with each other to improve their lot because they will have to do something to help each other. In the case of Whole life assurance you don't have to do anything to help your fellow farmers other than refusing to have anything to do with WLA.
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romneymarsh
Member
- Location
- Romney Marsh
Isn't this what Blade are doing already?
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
well said topground...i'm much of the same opinion ...the nfu are forcing me out of business...if that happens i'll never forgive or forget it...i'll tell anyone who listens to
there has been some good reports about them to hasn't there, not
buffalo_soldier
Member
- Location
- cumbria
I've told my Nfu chap if they don't start sorting this nonsense out I wont be renewing my membership and I will be taking my insurance business elsewhere.
If enough people do the same they have to listen don't they?
If enough people do the same they have to listen don't they?
llamedos
New Member
@romneymarsh does anyone have a copy of the letter in FW ?
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
i don't think they will i'm afraid....but at least if you cancel your membership it'll pay for the extra 'cr@p' they're loading on
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
What was our NFU's friends reply??
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Do we take that as he didn't even reply??
yes he did but not about that point
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Simon Bainbridge
New Member
Here in the North of England farmers have embraced farm assurance. At our local market at the end of Feb 88% of the store cattle and over 99% of the store hoggs were farm assured. At this market the stock will receive some of the strongest prices in the country. If farmers were not farm assured it would limit their outlets and they would receive less for their stock.In Scotland where they do receive the best prices in the UK and Ireland 97% of the cattle population is farm assured and they have been for 10 yrs. At a recent auction on the West Coast the difference between farm assured and not was 200-300 £/hd (NBA statistic) Our prime cattle and lambs have to be farm assured to receive premium prices. On the back of Scotland's assurance they have got their beef into Sweden's largest retailer,which is great for their exports. That could be us in a few years opening up new export markets. The Great British consumer gives us fantastic support for Farm assured British Beef and the Red Tractor with the union flag tells them it is from a British farm,what a fantastic marketing tool. The three super markets that are growing market share at present are all huge supporters of the Red Tractor,Aldi,Lidl and Waitrose. I visited an Aldi in Newcastle recently and the fresh beef,lamb and milk counter was like being at a Jubilee Party. British farming would be in a much poorer place with out it. On another note I see that West Country PGI Beef is wanting to go national and international with its sales and receive a price similar to what the Scots receive...and interestingly it has to be Whole Life Assured!
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
if it ain't broke then why fix it?....are the retailers resenting that premium and effectively looking to increase the pool so the premium disappears?
there's a thread on here about irish cattle being lower priced than uk cattle....that thread also mentions scottish buyers buying irish stores...how does that work with scots wla assurance?
wla comes in your premium will go IMO
there's a thread on here about irish cattle being lower priced than uk cattle....that thread also mentions scottish buyers buying irish stores...how does that work with scots wla assurance?
wla comes in your premium will go IMO
Simon Bainbridge
New Member
Irish stores will not be able to be sold as Scotch beef with WLA and that would be the same south of the border so it would protect our market from Irish stores being finished here for 90 days and then being sold as farm assured British beef. Animal welfare is not just about the final 90 days of an animals life,it would not stand up to any sort scrutiny and the consumer would be disappointed to say the least if they knew the truth. We need to make beef assurance more robust and bring it in line with the other sectors,we all have too much to loose,we currently have the highest beef prices in Europe and fantastic support from our buyers. The red tractor is on more than 12 billion pounds worth of produce we should not dismiss that. 90% of cattle at point of slaughter are farm assured so we would not be increasing pool, we would just be making the scheme more robust,looking to the future to hopefully open new export markets and assuring our customers/consumers that we are doing our best whilst not pulling the wool over their eyes which we are doing at present. As a bonus there would be much less chance of us getting a RPA fine because we failed a cross compliance inspection!
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spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
how is there less chance of failing a a cross compliance inspection?
do you support the idea of the nfu forcing wla on farmers (polls indicate 2 to1 against)? do we need ,in effect, saving from ourselves?
my concern is that wla will force alot of small or sideline cattle keepers out and in lowland areas more permanent pasture ploughed out as result...in short wla will damage the environment
fair play on coming on i welcome the chance to debate it
do you support the idea of the nfu forcing wla on farmers (polls indicate 2 to1 against)? do we need ,in effect, saving from ourselves?
my concern is that wla will force alot of small or sideline cattle keepers out and in lowland areas more permanent pasture ploughed out as result...in short wla will damage the environment
fair play on coming on i welcome the chance to debate it
Simon Bainbridge
New Member
how is there less chance of failing a a cross compliance inspection?
do you support the idea of the nfu forcing wla on farmers (polls indicate 2 to1 against)? do we need ,in effect, saving from ourselves?
my concern is that wla will force alot of small or sideline cattle keepers out and in lowland areas more permanent pasture ploughed out as result...in short wla will damage the environment
fair play on coming on i welcome the chance to debate it
If you have all your eggs in order for farm assurance you are pretty much covered for a RPA inspection and if you are farm assured trading standards and animal health see you as lower risk. More should be done on this is future though. It is and always has been the farmers choice whether he/she is farm assured,no one is forcing them to be farm assured. The calf rearing scheme is going to cost approximately £100 per year,if low risk a 3 yearly inspection and much less onerous than full red tractor assurance,how is that going to force producers out of production. Everything in farm assurance is already covered by other inspections/law and is good farm practice,what do we have to be scarred about? More livestock will go into lowland areas because of the problems with black grass,tight rotations and a lack of organic matter in their soils. I see in the FG this week Britain's largest farmers is going into livestock for those very reasons.
- Location
- East Sussex
I think the discounted and less regular inspections are a red herring myself. How can WLA be taken seriously with less regular inspections? It is an underhand way of introducing the scheme IMO.
I also think you are right in the respect that we should now embrace the idea. Make it yearly inspections, make the consumer pay for the privilege of having WLA beef and make sure the mechanisms such as databases and tracing are setup and working in advance. The producer MUST NOT pay for these costs. It is what the consumer wants so we will give it to them at the price it costs to implement and maintain.
Edit to add: I would also like to see enormous pressure put on the supermarkets and processors to stop this meat trading and price pressure which is what caused the whole horse meat saga. They have done nothing to root out the rot and expecting us to up the ante with WLA to make them look whiter than white, which we all know is utter rubbish.
It is perhaps one of the few chances we will get to turn the tables and take charge. Let's do it.
- Location
- North Somerset.
@Simon Bainbridge The strategists at TESCO will be proud of you.