Red Tractor Officially Scrap The GFC

Flat 10 said:

Can the next immediate target please be to get RT to make an exception and let us use unprotected urea at least until the end of April as a one off derogation? It’s not like it’s been exceptionally wet is it? As per FW defra insist they won’t help us, but surely since defra have given (how that was allowed I’ll never know) the policing of it to RT we can get them to give the derogation? Sorry @Grass And Grain another little job for you but it’s really getting rather urgent……
Also it’s not like most of the imported cereals will have used unprotected urea all through their growth

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Grass And Grain said:

Both GFC and standalone RT are barriers to market access and are deliberate control of farmers imho, and NFU, DEFRA, AIC mills, flour millers etc. use it to control us. If any of those organisations want something from us they put it in the "voluntary" Red Tractor, but then make RT compulsory of we want to supply to those mills.

NRoSO = theoretically voluntary, but they've made it mandatory through RT.

DEFRA urea policy, it's not the law, but DEFRA/NFU/RT have basically made it mandatory for any sizeable cereal growers
because they know we have to be RT assured.

Gov also use RT as a free inspection service, and the farmer pays

Mills didn't think 36 mth sprayer testing was good enough, and they could get 12 mth for free using RT.

I recon even DEFRA were pushing for the GFC because they could get 5% environmental habitat, and low behold that would have meant more uptake of SFI and more net zero boxes ticked.

Thankfully NFU probably thought they'd lose even more members if GFC went ahead, so they put the NFU's future before the GFC. Many people commented the only way to get change was to hurt these organisations in their wallets. It worked. NFU either had to end the GFC, or end of the NFU was looming imho.

Everything which was going to be wrong with the GFC (in a really dramatic way), is also wrong with RT's core standards. Lots of it is unnecessary claptrap, we have to pay to join, we have to pay to do the things they tell us, they won't let us sell our produce unless we're in RT, and then they add in any new rules they're wanting us to follow....

....urea policing is a pertinent example, and was the first emissions reductions action they got us to do through RT. And farmers have had to carry the cost of it, whilst the large processors and retailers got the free emissions reduction.

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slackjawedyokel said:

Oh Yay!

Instead of selling on the open market as we did before, we have to pay and spend significant amounts of time and money jumping through often pointless hoops in order to be allowed to sell at all. For no premium.

Huzzah!

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matthew said:

From Christine Tacon, today:

Dear Red Tractor Member,

In this edition of Member Matters, we address the cancellation of the Greener Farms Commitment and the important updates regarding new rules on urea use and our licensing activities. Last week we announced that we are dropping the Greener Farms Commitment module (GFC), following feedback from Red Tractor members. The module was developed to help farmers such as you, processors and retailers meet the growing need for all to demonstrate sustainability, but in a single, practical and consistent way. However, having taken on board the concerns about the impact the GFC would have on many farmers across the UK, the AFS Board of Red Tractor have agreed to discontinue the module. While the module had been conceived with the best of intentions, errors had been made. We take responsibility for those issues and are sorry. We hope that by dropping the module, we can close the door on this chapter and move forward. We will only be involved in future environmental standards when all constituencies across the UK food and farming chain, by sector, ask us to and with full consultation. The Board also accepted the conclusions of the Campbell Tickell review of Red Tractor's governance and confirmed its commitment to implement all the recommendations. Whilst the review found that ‘Red Tractor governance is sound’, it also sent a clear message about the frustration many of you are feeling. We will act now to improve our communications to you, including the transparency of our operations, purpose and benefits and we will strengthen our stakeholder engagement. We will listen more closely to you. For example, Red Tractor has previously found that transparency, audit burden and value are farmers’ top concerns with Red Tractor. Significant efforts are already underway to tackle these, which you will hear more about in the next few months. Dive into Member Matters: New demand for British oats Red tractor support industry in retaining access to urea for English farmers Red Tractor's farm data management recognised Silver lining for Red Tractor sugar beet growers Potato growers: support self-regulation click here to download a PDF version of Member Matters Best wishes, Christine Tacon, Red Tractor Chair

Love the bit stating the the GFC was developed to 'help farmers'. Rubbish. It was a leg up to the processors and retailers to help them meet their Scope 3 emissions target. Nothing more, nothing less, and as Dave Lewis told The Grocer mag in november, they (processors / retailers) may need government legislation to help achieve this aim.​

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Grass And Grain said:

It would not be legal for stakeholders to collude to make sure there was only ever one assurance option/operator. It would be deliberately preventing competition and would be illegal if it were happening. Not just a little bit illegal. Very illegal afaik.

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Humble Village Farmer said:

But Andrew Blenkiron, director at Euston Estate in Suffolk, said he was “disappointed” by the decision.

“Given that the industry doesn’t seem to want to prove its green credentials to its customers, I fully understand the reasoning behind the Red Tractor decision,” he said.

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Bramble said:

Given that the government has just seriously slashed its premier environmental scheme, SFI, should we even be bothering about our green credentials??

Neither government policy or market forces seem to know what they want, or are willing, to pay for now there is no subsidy safety net.

On a farm level the message seems to be do nothing (a choice of lose money producing food or environmental schemes that don’t pay well enough to bother with), put the business into hibernation and get another job

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Charles. said:

Yes, it's illegal for AIC governed UFAS mills and BRC members to demand UK farm assured food while rejecting UK trade assured food produced legally under UK law despite buying imported trade assured food if that, often produced illegally under UK law.

While the majority of farmers are illegally forced against their will into farm assurance level schemes, you can forget about premiums. The farmer must have the legal right to choose how to sell their produce, whether farm assured, trade assured, possibly no assurance or sell direct to consumer. Only then will there be any chance of a premium for farm assurance level. However Batters has said BRC members won't pay a premium, why would they pay a premium when they can import food cheaply.

Tough luck on the mills and merchants when you must legally accept UK trade assured produce when you import trade assured produce. Most mills and merchants probably aren't going to put up with this and so will ditch AIC UFAS.

RT, AIC and BRC members don't want the illegal forcing of farmers into farm assured schemes to stop because it's all about the money. It's a a good start stalling GFC, but we must fight for our legal right to sell our food how we see fit which includes no discount for UK food compared to imported food prices. In the absence of legal advice, it's common sense it's wrong, we must not be forced into RT which equates to ever decreasing farm income and ever increasing workload, nor forced into WWF,GFC and other BRC members agendas.

I don't see why we can't sell our produce with the disappearance of RT and AIC, we managed before they came into being. I don't trust RT or AIC, they invent their own food standards, you've pointed out it's 600:1 dilution rate in imported grain and therefore it's fixed, you wouldn't think that from this AIC video, meticulous quality standards my arse

.

AIC and probably BRC members, are overdoing the quality standards, probably lying, to dissuade UK farmers selling at imported trade assured standard rather than farm assured standard. RT and AIC are like excessive red tape in health and safety, hitting business profits and damaging the economy, while trying to invent they have a real purpose despite the fact we managed without them beforehand. AIC and RT truly are jobs for the boys, purely after the money.

The battle is won when we have the choice at will, to dip in and out of the various routes to sell our produce.

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snarling bee said:

Blenky is not happy though

From 'The Independant':
But Andrew Blenkiron, director at Euston Estate in Suffolk, said he was “disappointed” by the decision. “Given that the industry doesn’t seem to want to prove its green credentials to its customers, I fully understand the reasoning behind the Red Tractor decision,” he said.

He doesn't get it does he.

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snarling bee said:

Blenky is not happy though

From 'The Independant':
But Andrew Blenkiron, director at Euston Estate in Suffolk, said he was “disappointed” by the decision. “Given that the industry doesn’t seem to want to prove its green credentials to its customers, I fully understand the reasoning behind the Red Tractor decision,” he said.

He doesn't get it does he.

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snarling bee said:

Blenky is not happy though

From 'The Independant':
But Andrew Blenkiron, director at Euston Estate in Suffolk, said he was “disappointed” by the decision. “Given that the industry doesn’t seem to want to prove its green credentials to its customers, I fully understand the reasoning behind the Red Tractor decision,” he said.

He doesn't get it does he.

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Hay Maker said:

That AIC video is total bull sh!t as many of the tests outlined in it take many weeks to perform in specialist laboratories which do not exist in any importers facilities.

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snarling bee said:

Blenky is not happy though

From 'The Independant':
But Andrew Blenkiron, director at Euston Estate in Suffolk, said he was “disappointed” by the decision. “Given that the industry doesn’t seem to want to prove its green credentials to its customers, I fully understand the reasoning behind the Red Tractor decision,” he said.

He doesn't get it does he.

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snarling bee said:

Blenky is not happy though

From 'The Independant':
But Andrew Blenkiron, director at Euston Estate in Suffolk, said he was “disappointed” by the decision. “Given that the industry doesn’t seem to want to prove its green credentials to its customers, I fully understand the reasoning behind the Red Tractor decision,” he said.

He doesn't get it does he.

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