Andrew Blenkiron

Would you like Andrew Blenkiron sacked from the board of Red Tractor for his insulting comments.

  • Yes

    Votes: 273 94.1%
  • No

    Votes: 17 5.9%

  • Total voters
    290

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
The balls in our court .
Do we want to put up with the continual theft or are we going to have the balls to bin it once for all.
As soon as the snowball starts to roll there'll be no stopping it.
Very true.
Everybody's griping about it and very few are doing anything. Nothing will change until we all resign en bloc.

I suggest everybody comes out on the first of April 2021.(for the record, I packed in years ago so I don't give a stuff). Come on you lot put your money where your mouth is.

Isn't it a pity there's no farmer's organisation or a union type of thing that could organise it for us??
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
Very true.
Everybody's griping about it and very few are doing anything. Nothing will change until we all resign en bloc.

I suggest everybody comes out on the first of April 2021.(for the record, I packed in years ago so I don't give a stuff). Come on you lot put your money where your mouth is.

Isn't it a pity there's no farmer's organisation or a union type of thing that could organise it for us??
It's only just around the corner.
 
Very true.
Everybody's griping about it and very few are doing anything. Nothing will change until we all resign en bloc.

I suggest everybody comes out on the first of April 2021.(for the record, I packed in years ago so I don't give a stuff). Come on you lot put your money where your mouth is.

Isn't it a pity there's no farmer's organisation or a union type of thing that could organise it for us??

There is work being done in the background. Just takes a bit of time to do it carefully.
 

AIMS

Member
Trade
Location
UK
ultimately all Red Tractor cash comes from farmers ... so yes !

We managed to wangle our way onto one of the Red Tractor 'consultation' webinars. During this Jim Moseley gave a breakdown of their income.

They have 23 staff and 19 board members.

Total annual income is £4.5million of which 50% is from farmers, 45% is from Royalty Fees and 5% is from AHDB.

The Royalty fees are the post farm gate income they derive from licensing the use of their logo. For our members it means that an abattoir has to be inspected and then, if they wish to make a claim that what they are processing and then selling into the supply chain is RT then they have to be licensed to do this. The next link in the supply chain may be a cutting plant, they too would have to be inspected and undergo what is termed 'mass balance' in order that what they then sell on is RT. They too then have to buy a license and so on.

Some of the abattoirs are of course cutting plants and processors. They are in the main supplying the supermarkets so just need to be inspected and then apply for a license. In many cases these businesses won't necessarily have a RT inspection but will be assured under the BRC Global Standard. They will then submit this to RT and pay a fee based on throughput and become licensed for the RT and therefore able to use the RT logo on pack.

However, in the more complex supply chains such as those to high street butchers and point, the 'chain' will break because a link will choose not to be inspected and licensed and so, they can't then use the RT logo.

But here's the rub. Within the meat supply chain there is an assurance scheme called Red Tractor Assurance Meat and Poultry Processing Standard. Many cutting plants and catering butchers are inspected by 3rd party audit to this standard. You would have thought, if you were inspected to the standard that you'd be allowed to use the Red Tractor logo or to make a claim on invoice that what you were selling along the chain is Red Tractor. No. You too have to then buy a license to use the logo or to use the words 'Red Tractor' on invoice.

To our mind this is nonsense. Surely, if a businesses that is sitting in the middle of the supply chain and is assured to the Red Tractor Assurance Meat and Poultry Processing Standard isn't supplying the consumer, but simply processing and moving product down the supply chain, then they should be allowed to make a claim on invoice that what they are selling is Red Tractor. The last point in the chain, that point at which the meat or poultry becomes consumer facing, is surely the point at which those selling the product should have to buy a license.

By the way, to be the best of my knowledge, non of the multiple retailers hold a Red Tractor license. They are selling pre-packs and the license sits with the processors.
 

AIMS

Member
Trade
Location
UK
Homepride flour sells self raising flour and it just says 100% British wheat and has a union jack. No RT to.be found

Probably because they haven't bought a Red Tractor license. Brands such as Homepride have market and marketing clout. They don't need to use RT to get on shelf or to 'encourage' consumers to choose their products over their competitors.

Look at the Yeo Valley TV advert: https://vod-progressive.akamaized.n...8570432/1969892676.mp4?filename=YVST_YT20.mp4

You would think from the imagery that the product is Red Tractor. Our 'research' shows that the farms supplying Yeo Valley are RT but that Yeo Valley's processing site probably isn't. After all, the products don't have the RT logo on them. The power of the brand is what is at work here.
A NFU employee told me that they had been told to 'protect the Red Tractor Brand at all costs'. But is RT really a brand? Not in the really true sense of the word.
 
Probably because they haven't bought a Red Tractor license. Brands such as Homepride have market and marketing clout. They don't need to use RT to get on shelf or to 'encourage' consumers to choose their products over their competitors.

Look at the Yeo Valley TV advert: https://vod-progressive.akamaized.net/exp=1616411047~acl=/vimeo-prod-skyfire-std-us/01/4714/17/448570432/1969892676.mp4~hmac=7b4763e41cd340a8629157fd45593fecb1a4bfc5bef28203d431d33da4acbdfa/vimeo-prod-skyfire-std-us/01/4714/17/448570432/1969892676.mp4?filename=YVST_YT20.mp4

You would think from the imagery that the product is Red Tractor. Our 'research' shows that the farms supplying Yeo Valley are RT but that Yeo Valley's processing site probably isn't. After all, the products don't have the RT logo on them. The power of the brand is what is at work here.
A NFU employee told me that they had been told to 'protect the Red Tractor Brand at all costs'. But is RT really a brand? Not in the really true sense of the word.


No it isn't a brand.

Thing is RT isn't all bad but the problem is it is a double standard and it doesn't deliver a premium and so if it's not adding value it needs to go
 

AIMS

Member
Trade
Location
UK
No it isn't a brand.

Thing is RT isn't all bad but the problem is it is a double standard and it doesn't deliver a premium and so if it's not adding value it needs to go

Well it sort of does deliver a premium, just not to the primary producer, the farmer.

All the costs of inspection and license fees along the supply chain get passed on from link to link thereby pushing up the price of the product. So, in markets where there are few links, namely processing for the supermarkets the price for a Red Tractor piece of meat or chicken is lower then it would be for say a restaurant where the product has passed through several links, all of whom have had to pay for inspection and licenses. In a way, rather than delivering a premium, it sort of delivers food price inflation.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 76 43.7%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 27 15.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 3 1.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,284
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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