GFC was to go ahead - now not going ahead

Grass And Grain

Grass And Grain

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Yorks
super major minor said:
Still do not see the need for a cereal scheme if the mills can bring in non assured grain anyway. Only real need for rt is if selling to retail?Especially if you are LA or FS inspected
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No, agree, no need for basic cereals assurance when we've got LA inspections and also non-assured imports blended into the flour or at the feed mill.

Edit. I maybe didn't make myself clear. I was talking about any greening standards. The supermarkets will be desperate to push something through, but the foodstuff is no longer a basic commodity at world price.
 
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L

L P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Newbury
holwellcourtfarm said:
John Gilliland (AHDB) said last week he prefered a single overarching assurance provider to each retailer having their own. IMHO that single provider of assurance is why there is no competition for suppliers and the BRC have been able to impose membership on UK farmers.

Competition between buyers is what is fundamentally missing in the UK food system.
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Strange thing to say, goes to show the bias in the system... has he not recognised it is called farm assurance, not retailer assurance. That really is an own goal comment showing RT has no desire to help farmers. There is nothing left of why farm assurance came about. Presumably retailers wanting individual schemes will proudly advertise 'assured chlorinated chicken, hormone treated beef, deforestation tofu, max mileage prawns" etc.
 
Grass And Grain

Grass And Grain

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Yorks
Grass And Grain said:
No, agree, no need for basic cereals assurance when we've got LA inspections and also non-assured imports blended into the flour or at the feed mill.

Edit. I maybe didn't make myself clear. I was talking about any greening standards. The supermarkets will be desperate to push something through, but the foodstuff is no longer a basic commodity at world price.
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This is why they want the GFC in Red Tractor, so they can get it for to next to nothing.

Commercial Carbon sequestration schemes work by proving additionality. If we're forced into carbon reductions or sequestration by Red Tractor, then we won't be able to sell our services because it won't be additional to what we're already doing.

^^^ not certain about what I've just written above. There's a difference between emissions reductions and carbon sequestration. Do commercial schemes like Agreena take into account emissions reductions (e.g. less diesel by direct drilling)???
 
L

Luke Cropwalker

Member
Arable Farmer
I think GFC run by RT is a total non-starter. If a farmer wishes to start accounting for Carbon then the farmer should be able to look at the various schemes on offer and, more importantly how those schemes actually allow for Carbon sequestrations and emissions as there are different ways of doing this. Based on past experience I very much doubt that RT will have the integrity to carry out a carbon audit that optimises the calculations in favour of the farm being audited. The RT brand was soiled before the whole GFC sh!t-show, GFC just brought a lot of ill feeling to the fore.
 
Grass And Grain

Grass And Grain

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Yorks
L P said:
Strange thing to say, goes to show the bias in the system... has he not recognised it is called farm assurance, not retailer assurance. That really is an own goal comment showing RT has no desire to help farmers. There is nothing left of why farm assurance came about. Presumably retailers wanting individual schemes will proudly advertise 'assured chlorinated chicken, hormone treated beef, deforestation tofu, max mileage prawns" etc.
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...and AHDB are supposed to be in charge of our marketing.

I do get the concept of a single assurance scheme, but is it working for us?

It does mean access to all markets, but as identified also means buyers have access to plentiful produce at knock down prices.

East to fix in dedicated supply chains like milk, or maybe even beef to Asda. What about grain or live market livestock? Maybe those don't need RT anyway. Do those buyers really need anything additional over LA inspections? Lots of non-assured stock being sold right now. In fact arguably the halal market drives prices more than supermarkets, and they're probably happy with LA.
 
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H

Homesy

Member
Location
North West Devon
Grass And Grain said:
...and AHDB are supposed to be in charge of our marketing.

I do get the concept of a single assurance scheme, but is it working for us?

It does mean access to all markets, but as identified also means buyers have access to plentiful produce at knock down prices.

East to fix in dedicated supply chains like milk, or maybe even beef to Asda. What about grain or live market livestock? Maybe those don't need RT anyway. Do those buyers really need anything additional over LA inspections? Lots of non-assured stock being sold right now. In fact arguably the halal market drives prices more than supermarkets, and they're probably happy with LA.
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You need a VAN number if you’re not assured to be able to export to EU
 
L

L P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Newbury
Grass And Grain said:
...and AHDB are supposed to be in charge of our marketing.

I do get the concept of a single assurance scheme, but is it working for us?

It does mean access to all markets, but as identified also means buyers have access to plentiful produce at knock down prices.

East to fix in dedicated supply chains like milk, or maybe even beef to Asda. What about grain or live market livestock? Maybe those don't need RT anyway. Do those buyers really need anything additional over LA inspections? Lots of non-assured stock being sold right now. In fact arguably the halal market drives prices more than supermarkets, and they're probably happy with LA.
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No, it's not, it's fallen flat on its back and is controlled by BRC by the looks of it. Assured beef and lamb is a farce anyway... try bringing your wheat to my place for a few weeks and see if it's magically assured no matter what you did with it on your farm. I've no problem with assuring my crops for quality. I do have a problem that doing so has no benefit to me and that RT stands for nothing other than market control.
 
H

Homesy

Member
Location
North West Devon
Grass And Grain said:
Vets are somewhat more qualified than your average RT inspector. Do we think a VAN could replace Red Tractor as being a suitable assurance method?
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Absolutely. Vet takes care of animal welfare. CTS animal movements. Spot check by dairy inspectorate. EA are inspecting now so that takes care of nutrient plan etc. We have a separate audit for our dairy regarding farm appearance carbon footprint bollox. Job done. Red Tractor is a waste of time
 

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