Commingle.......

I am perfectly capable of keeping my sprayer in good order and do not need, nor want to pay, for an annual test that is beyond the legal requirement for a test every three years.
Must be a bit harder to earn the money here than it is for you.
Whatever!
Thats fair but it ensures that everyone is on the same page. It has also got rid of most of the dodgy operators I suspect so could be fair enough to go back to 3 yearly.
And I do realise that by the time we add on assurance, testing, nroso etc etc it all adds up. And as has been said before these things were dangled as a carrot but are now a stick.
BUT if being "independently ;)" assured means we avoid statutory checks.................
It would be good if we had 1 scheme, I pay for crops, produce, leaf and global gap! And there seems to be a "royalty" that goes from NSF to RT for each scheme, who's actually running this. It should be a non profit co. if anything.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Are you lining yourself up for the next job!?

No way Jose! Spend my life being villified for trying to do the right thing? No thanks. I don't do politics & would rather be out in a field.

If I were RT I'd be staying away from places like TFF - all engaging in here does is fuel the flames. Look but don't respond. Fair play for Guy to speak up. Let's see what Christine Tacon & Guy Smith are able to achieve. It certainly needs reform. Better to have constructive engagement than fling insults IMO.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Whatever!
Thats fair but it ensures that everyone is on the same page. It has also got rid of most of the dodgy operators I suspect so could be fair enough to go back to 3 yearly.
And I do realise that by the time we add on assurance, testing, nroso etc etc it all adds up. And as has been said before these things were dangled as a carrot but are now a stick.
BUT if being "independently ;)" assured means we avoid statutory checks.................
It would be good if we had 1 scheme, I pay for crops, produce, leaf and global gap! And there seems to be a "royalty" that goes from NSF to RT for each scheme, who's actually running this. It should be a non profit co. if anything.

RT is a not-for-profit organisation. There are ways around this, of course.
 
Whatever!
Thats fair but it ensures that everyone is on the same page. It has also got rid of most of the dodgy operators I suspect so could be fair enough to go back to 3 yearly.
And I do realise that by the time we add on assurance, testing, nroso etc etc it all adds up. And as has been said before these things were dangled as a carrot but are now a stick.
BUT if being "independently ;)" assured means we avoid statutory checks.................
It would be good if we had 1 scheme, I pay for crops, produce, leaf and global gap! And there seems to be a "royalty" that goes from NSF to RT for each scheme, who's actually running this. It should be a non profit co. if anything.

I'll have a statutory check thanks.

The state generally knows whats important and legislate for it
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear some corporate bods extolling the virtue of RT and saying how crucial it is to their purchasing choices, quality, maintaining high standards etc.

I can see RT encouraging Weetabix, Carling and all their cronies to do so to justify the brand.

i get the impression RT have upset such buyers by charging for use of the brand ?
 

Martin Holden

Member
Trade
Location
Cheltenham
Not being funny but who gives a fudge what Weetabix or Warburtons or anyone else thinks of the RT scheme or what farmers do with or without it? Are Weetabix paying for the scheme in any way? No. Does the scheme benefit consumers in any way? Hardly, given that in many cases processers of foodstuffs are using imported supplies that can't possibly be RT assured. So what is the point?

Why should farmers incur the cost and time penalties involved with a scheme that delivers no tangible benefit to them? What's more, Red Tractor means absolutely fudge all to consumers to the point that retailers won't even use it.

What a Frenchman says about British food is of zero concern to me and it should be even less concerning to Guy Smith.
I think you’ve hit on something here Ollie. I would say Red Tractor doesn’t resonate with Jo public walking up and down the isles of our supermarkets. Sure those that frequent farm shops probably do and if not they value provenance I would say. I really don’t know what UK Ag’ has to do to connect fully with Jo Public apart from keep trying. I fear sometimes a Union Jack on a good label means “more expensive” to many especially when many know that imported food is generally cheaper. So often what the press reports are farmers and or farming groups defending their products against cheaper imports. I think this is where the challenge is. In my lifetime UK Ag’ has never really been strong at promoting home grown food sadly. Maybe in the good old days if the FMC, Milk Marketing Board it was a little different but as people’s diets have changed, are we/can we produce what folk want? We can’t grow rice as far as I know for example. Tough gig, this one.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Whatever!
Thats fair but it ensures that everyone is on the same page. It has also got rid of most of the dodgy operators I suspect so could be fair enough to go back to 3 yearly.
And I do realise that by the time we add on assurance, testing, nroso etc etc it all adds up. And as has been said before these things were dangled as a carrot but are now a stick.
BUT if being "independently ;)" assured means we avoid statutory checks.................
It would be good if we had 1 scheme, I pay for crops, produce, leaf and global gap! And there seems to be a "royalty" that goes from NSF to RT for each scheme, who's actually running this. It should be a non profit co. if anything.

the point you are missing is that my wheat, sprayed by a tested sprayer ends up in the SAME product with imported wheat produced where no sprayer test was required

so whats the point ? why should we take on these extra costs when our buyers clearly do not REALLY care ?
 

quattro

Member
Location
scotland
I’m not familiar with red tractor, mostly sqc and tassc I can’t help believe these assurance schemes don’t have the desired effect with some farmers, they should do unannounced spot checks
a lot of farms don’t give a toss after they’ve had their inspection and passed till the next time,which to me defeats the object
you don’t get Vosa tell you where there working to pull you up
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I’m not familiar with red tractor, mostly sqc and tassc I can’t help believe these assurance schemes don’t have the desired effect with some farmers, they should do unannounced spot checks
a lot of farms don’t give a toss after they’ve had their inspection and passed till the next time,which to me defeats the object
you don’t get Vosa tell you where there working to pull you up
You will see a lot of things running a bulk haulage business.

Personally I don't find SQC a big inconvenience. No idea how it compares to RT. Completed SQC and QMS inspection remotely a few weeks ago.
 

onesiedale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
the point you are missing is that my wheat, sprayed by a tested sprayer ends up in the SAME product with imported wheat produced where no sprayer test was required

so whats the point ? why should we take on these extra costs when our buyers clearly do not REALLY care ?
similarly, our sprayer had to be tested even though we hadn't used it for 2 years the fact that it was sat at the back of the yard was enough for the RT inspector to fail our dairy inspection until it had a certificate.
 

Guy Smith

Member
Location
Essex
Let @Guy Smith get into the job, guys. It doesn’t get fixed on day one. Judge actions, not words. I can’t blame Guy for not answering every post slagging him or his job off.

I do have enough brains to realise that if you come onto a chat room and mention that chat rooms are chat rooms and they don’t achieve much, then you are not going to make yourself flavour of the month with people in the chat room let alone the owner of the chat room. So to make myself even more unpopular I’d make a few points

1. One complaint I often hear on here is that RT bods or NFU bods don’t come on here. The fact is no ‘bods’ from any organisations come on here to post in their capacity of the office they hold. As one of the bods who used to be a NFU bod and I’m now a RT bod, I can understand why.

2. TFFers and the owner of TFF have been banging on as to how terrible Red Tractor or the NFU is for a number of years now. And yet at the same time admit they think things gets worse.

3. I’m a believer that you can get more done in the tent than outside the tent. I’ve only been in this tent 30 days.

No doubt this post will cause even more bile to be poured down on me but I’ve got quite thick skin and don’t cry myself to sleep at night because someone said something nasty about me on TFF. But I like to think my record shows I do listen to farmers. I actually think some of the points on here are well made and well researched. I’ve been looking at some of the stuff on import standards for sometime now and I continue to do so because it’s quite complex.

As for the accusation I’ve been bought off or I’m in the pocket of my pay masters. I’m transparent about earning £10,000 a year in my post as RT Chair of Cereals, Oilseeds and Sugar Beet. I’m putting a fair few hours in and don’t think the hourly rate too extortionate. I can think of a lot easier ways to become rich and popular!

Finally I would urge anyone to respond to the current consultation. For what it’s worth my advice is to keep your arguments reasoned and factually correct, don’t get personal and keep your language moderate - that way they are more likely to be listened to.

Thanks

Guy
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
I think you’ve hit on something here Ollie. I would say Red Tractor doesn’t resonate with Jo public walking up and down the isles of our supermarkets. Sure those that frequent farm shops probably do and if not they value provenance I would say. I really don’t know what UK Ag’ has to do to connect fully with Jo Public apart from keep trying. I fear sometimes a Union Jack on a good label means “more expensive” to many especially when many know that imported food is generally cheaper. So often what the press reports are farmers and or farming groups defending their products against cheaper imports. I think this is where the challenge is. In my lifetime UK Ag’ has never really been strong at promoting home grown food sadly. Maybe in the good old days if the FMC, Milk Marketing Board it was a little different but as people’s diets have changed, are we/can we produce what folk want? We can’t grow rice as far as I know for example. Tough gig, this one.

That makes me think too...

Imagine a fruit farmer who grows apples for the major supermarkets. Standard product, no further input required.

Assuming they are RT assured, it goes off and sits in a package on a Tesco shelf with the RT logo on.

If that same farmer wanted to sell these apples at the farm gate*.....as I understand it despite being a fully RT assured farm, they would not be allowed to use the RT logo on the product they have produced to RT standard, and been inspected by them, despite the fact that it's as genuine a "Red Tractor" product as is possible, totally unadulterated and no further processes have taken place!

(*assuming of course all contracts with supermarkets etc allowed for direct sales)
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,287
  • 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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