Suspended from Red Tractor

nicko8

New Member
Agree 100% Clive, why a lot of you farmers can't grow a set of balls and stand up against this system that basically lines the pockets of a lot of people(bottom feeders) and gives us as producers, nothing! RT has been running for ten years now and 50% of housewives don't know what it means supermarkets aren't too bothered either, Guy Smith, as lame a response as I would expect from organisation that jumped into bed with RT and will not do the walk of shame the next morning !! Action not more NFU words and bull!
The difference between milling and feed per load of £580 is enough insensitive not to want mice sh1t in your store without the need of the protection racket banging on your door banning you from RT, then throw in the cost of having to spend 3 1/2 hours box ticking the same box as you ticked last year just to justify the existence of the inspector who can then 'pass go' and collect their fee. It's high time things changed and if the NFU or Guy Smith can't or will not then a different approach must be taken.
 
'Kin 'ell Clive, change the record. Farm assurance is a basic minimum standard that we should all farm to. You failed to meet those standards, no need to soil your bed on your own public forum.

Talking to a grain rep yesterday, he mentioned tales of farms that were (pre RT / SQC etc) literally "utter sh!t holes" and where there were rats openly running round grain stores with as much rat sh!t on the surface as grain. "You just don't see sights like that any more with farm assurance".

For all of you 'farmers' moaning about RT, where do you think the tolerance should be set for selling vermin sh!t for human consumption?
- none.
- 1 mouse turd in a speared sample.
- "as much as we like, it's just a bit of admix"

PERHAPS IF YOU SPENT A LITTLE LESS TIME PRANCING AROUND ON YOUR HIGH HORSE POINTING YOUR FINGER AT GUY / RT / NFU, AND A BIT MORE TIME TAKING CARE OF YOUR STORE CHECKS... :love:

And just how much sympathy do you honestly think you'll get with your entitled whine in THE SUN :

MILLIONAIRE FARMERS WANT YOU TO EAT SH!T

@Guy Smith you might want to warn the press department that Clive is determined to start another BSE type scandal :facepalm: Your's is an utterly thankless task. I dont know how you maintain your sanity when you have to put up with this (mouse) sh!t.
I can take you to red tractor farms that are still like you describe,as I said earlier one producing wheat for baby food,as long as every thing passes on the day of inspection,if we had a baby now after knowing what I do they would not be fed any baby product's that contain wheat
 

rob1

Member
Location
wiltshire
I can take you to red tractor farms that are still like you describe,as I said earlier one producing wheat for baby food,as long as every thing passes on the day of inspection,if we had a baby now after knowing what I do they would not be fed any baby product's that contain wheat
I expect if you spent enough time in any food/drink or health establishment you would find things that you didnt like, even perhaps in your own home, where there are foods sources you will find creatures that want a share, humans have evolved to deal with a bit of contamination the problem we have now is everything is TOO clean .

I agree that its perhaps not a good idea to make a public fuss about getting told off for a bit of mouse sh!t, perhaps the last load of sweepings could have gone to the farm shoot instead of a flour mill
 

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
I can take you to red tractor farms that are still like you describe,as I said earlier one producing wheat for baby food,as long as every thing passes on the day of inspection,if we had a baby now after knowing what I do they would not be fed any baby product's that contain wheat

If it honestly poses a serious health risk to infants, then why have you not reported the farm to trading standards?

No one wants to be "a grass", but at the same time If its as bad as you make out, no one want to be complicit in the ill health or death of children. By withholding what you know, you are complicit with the farmer.
 
If it honestly poses a serious health risk to infants, then why have you not reported the farm to trading standards?

No one wants to be "a grass", but at the same time If its as bad as you make out, no one want to be complicit in the ill health or death of children. By withholding what you know, you are complicit with the farmer.
it is the fact the skeam is a farce and always has been,same as hse inspection:)
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
If it honestly poses a serious health risk to infants, then why have you not reported the farm to trading standards?

No one wants to be "a grass", but at the same time If its as bad as you make out, no one want to be complicit in the ill health or death of children. By withholding what you know, you are complicit with the farmer.
why trading standards has red tractor got no teeth
 

FarmerBruce

Member
Location
Yorkshire
I failed once for not updating my records on when I'd replaced ray bait. I said to him 'you've just looked round and no evidence of rats what so ever' he replied 'it needs recording!!' So I replied 'if there WAS evidence of rats but I had receded the paper work all would be ok??'
His relpy'YES'
Utter utter madness !!
 

Forever Fendt

Member
Location
Derbyshire
Are these people for real - this stupidity has to stop

So after after storing 10's of thousands of grain this season in our farm / commercial stores, last week we deliver the last load of milling wheat, as we all know as practical farmers the last load form a store involves some sweeping down etc

1 (yes ONE) mouse dropping found ! so load rejected for milling, this is the ONLY rejection we have had all year so a very small % of our crop wheat crop ALL of which has gone to gp1 quality markets,

NO issue with the merchant, we discussed bringing back to clean, (not that ONE mouse dropping hardly justifies ) but we are fortunate to have modern facility to do so or re direct to a feed whet home (are chickens REALLY that picky ?)

Haulage and workload considered we decided it was best to redirect to a feed home - disappointing but not the end of the world, merchant as disappointed as us I think and just as annoyed by the pettyness of RT

NOW THE RIDICULOUS

A letter arrives yesterday from Red Tractor saying we are suspended from the scheme until we write to them explaining what we are going to do about our rodent problem.

I could write back and tell them how sorry we are and how we will change our policies etc. I'm sure a bit of bullpoo along those lines would satisfy them despite the fact it would change nothing and I would in reality do nothing different at all. Doing so would simply make me dishonest when there is nothing better or more that I can realistically do, there is no problem. The problem is their completely unrealistic and frankly ludicrous idea that any farm has no mice on it whatsoever Tell them you planted a single dropping to see if they could detect it and how pleased you are with them for finding it as it fill you with confidence in the system

We don't NOT have a rodent problem, our storage facility is second to none IMO, we pass assurance with no uncompliances most years, and are not only red tractor assured but assured as a 3rd party store and testing lab under the way more robust GTAS scheme, we have a regular baiting policy and records , its very rare we see a mouse and I have never seen a rat in our yard. Bait points are plentiful, toped up regularly and are well located, modern buildings are sealed as well as any building can be, realistically there is nothing more that could be done to keep any rodent issues to a minimum here

I will be writing to tell them I intend to do nothing, there schemes is ridiculous, do they seriously expect there to be no mice at all on a farmyard ? Can ANY farm serious claim they have ZERO mice ever ?

Something needs to be done about these idiots, they are not being realistic here, if a modern multimillion £ storage facility like we have here can't satisfy them god only knows what will

What's the solution ? we have added this layer of extra cost to our business that has turned most farmers into liars to satisfy their unrealistic expectations, all so we can "compete" with grain and meat imported from markets where they don't even store stuff indoors quite often !
 

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
why trading standards has red tractor got no teeth

Trading Standards, HSE, RT, the mill, the manufacturer of the baby food, The SUN, whoever.

But raising it on a forum full of farmers (most of whom can't be bothered to initial a box and add a date) won't improve food standards.

If the farm in question does have shitty grain, that is. All we have is the word of a forum member.
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
'Kin 'ell Clive, change the record. Farm assurance is a basic minimum standard that we should all farm to. You failed to meet those standards, no need to soil your bed on your own public forum.

Talking to a grain rep yesterday, he mentioned tales of farms that were (pre RT / SQC etc) literally "utter sh!t holes" and where there were rats openly running round grain stores with as much rat sh!t on the surface as grain. "You just don't see sights like that any more with farm assurance".

For all of you 'farmers' moaning about RT, where do you think the tolerance should be set for selling vermin sh!t for human consumption?
- none.
- 1 mouse turd in a speared sample.
- "as much as we like, it's just a bit of admix"

PERHAPS IF YOU SPENT A LITTLE LESS TIME PRANCING AROUND ON YOUR HIGH HORSE POINTING YOUR FINGER AT GUY / RT / NFU, AND A BIT MORE TIME TAKING CARE OF YOUR STORE CHECKS... :love:

And just how much sympathy do you honestly think you'll get with your entitled whine in THE SUN :

MILLIONAIRE FARMERS WANT YOU TO EAT SH!T

@Guy Smith you might want to warn the press department that Clive is determined to start another BSE type scandal :facepalm: Your's is an utterly thankless task. I dont know how you maintain your sanity when you have to put up with this (mouse) sh!t.


you make some very good points.....the only slight weakness was why were 'grain reps' buying off these 'shithole farms' ?....surely they should've walked away?....why take a 'stick' to the rest of us?

i think to much emphasis is put on paperwork...when you visit a farm you generally get an idea of how it is
 

DRC

Member
you make some very good points.....the only slight weakness was why were 'grain reps' buying off these 'shithole farms' ?....surely they should've walked away?....why take a 'stick' to the rest of us?

i think to much emphasis is put on paperwork...when you visit a farm you generally get an idea of how it is
Chap I know used to tip corn on dried cow muck, which often got scraped up into the wagon. Feed merchant bought it off him, because he bought a lot of cow nuts back.
 
This is s bit of a storm in a teacup isn't it? As farmers we shouldn't sell a product with sh!t in it, I can't see anyone disagreeing with that. I think they're within their rights to question whether you have taken steps to minimise the amount of sh!t you sell. Then you can simply say 'we'll have a look at my very impressive grainstore with hardly any mice in' Then they will say ' ok fair enough'. If you bought a load of seed, fert or chem that wasn't up to spec you would probably complain and say it isn't good enough. As someone said above, assurance schemes HAVE raised the farm standard of storage, and the grain does command a premium if it's assured. The system is not perfect by a long stretch and there is too much clipboard box ticking nonsense, but there has to be a system. Traceability etc matters to consumers, they're the people who should matter to us.
 
This is s bit of a storm in a teacup isn't it? As farmers we shouldn't sell a product with sh!t in it, I can't see anyone disagreeing with that. I think they're within their rights to question whether you have taken steps to minimise the amount of sh!t you sell. Then you can simply say 'we'll have a look at my very impressive grainstore with hardly any mice in' Then they will say ' ok fair enough'. If you bought a load of seed, fert or chem that wasn't up to spec you would probably complain and say it isn't good enough. As someone said above, assurance schemes HAVE raised the farm standard of storage, and the grain does command a premium if it's assured. The system is not perfect by a long stretch and there is too much clipboard box ticking nonsense, but there has to be a system. Traceability etc matters to consumers, they're the people who should matter to us.

I accept the system and traceability. Lets get rid of the clipboard box ticking tho
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
Its just a con to reduce the amount paid to farmers. Do you really think that a multi billion pound grain industry cannot sort the wheat from the chaff and any other foreign bodies. Even when I was a young lad we used to go down the grain merchants for a bag of chaff for the chickens which was all the rejects from the cleaning and grading process. It would be alive with insects and the chickens loved it.
 
Location
Devon
i don't think so...i think they 'sold' it...RT is a 'not for profit' organisation....certainly true for their members:rolleyes::D:D:D:banghead:

credit to @Guy Smith for coming on:)

off topic slightly but i was in the pub with a m8 (yes i have one) who was in marketing for diageo for 20 years.....after listening to me 'grizzling' about farm assurance he asked me what i was talking about:rolleyes:.....i told him 'its red tractor'......'whats that he said?':eek:......i said 'you know the little badge on the food at the supermarket'....replied 'never seen it':inpain:.....a little more converstion and he said 'jimmy...thats not a brand':poop:

110% the NFU co-own the RT company alongside 4/5 other farming unions,

A link to this has been posted a few times on TFF to confirm this.

Very clear if it wasn't the case then Guy Smith would correct it on TFF.

His comments are very intresting thou as he is basically saying between the lines it doesn't matter how out of touch with common sense the RT rules become farmers should just shut up accept them!
 

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
you make some very good points.....the only slight weakness was why were 'grain reps' buying off these 'shithole farms' ?....surely they should've walked away?....why take a 'stick' to the rest of us?

i think to much emphasis is put on paperwork...when you visit a farm you generally get an idea of how it is

Short of being psychic, the grain had to be sampled prior to any prospective purchase. Whether he bought it, I don't know...

But he did tell me which farm it had come from (changed ownership) so it obviously had stuck in his mind, and probably reflected on further dealing.
"The funny thing is, it was in his brand new 'state of the art' grain store. Frankly, I was surprised that he just hadn't bothered to check it"...
 

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

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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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