Concerned about Red Tractor collapse.

One has to consider who the drivers are behind assurance.
Can’t be the supermarkets surely as the majority (?) of foodstuffs they stock would not be covered by any assurance scheme over and above food safety standards… can it?

The supermarkets have their own assurance schemes, some of which attract a healthy premium. Why would they bother with RT? It offers no commercial advantage to them.
 
I can't wait. Each mill will want its own assurance scheme, so will each maltster and brewer and supermarket and candlestick maker. Why don't we have one assurance scheme that covers everything? Oh ..hang on...

No, with multiple different schemes they will be in competition with each other. It is exactly the same way the dairies are at the moment and some of them are paying a serious premium over regular product. Some other livestock schemes also exist. Red tractor is the default, bottom of the pile and means fudge all category.

Your RT, as it stands, offers no benefit to anyone.

If multiple schemes were to exist offered by different buyers, they would have to offer a distinct premium for it or no one will bother to sell to them under those standards.

For arable farmers who are concerned about the idea of multiple competing assurance standards, they need only look to the nature of the beast in the dairy and livestock sectors. There are farmers out there who are happy meeting far more exacting standards than RT and they are paid handsomely for it.

What is true is that the livestock sector, particularly the sheep, beef and dairy side, will all have to up it's game anyway with respect to infectious disease control as the product pipeline isn't there any longer. This will happen and is happening independent of ded rektor.
 
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Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
The drivers behind assurance was the NFU as it was another way of extracting money from their members as well as extracting from farmers who refused to be members of the union. The Nfu set up RT and part own it.

The None Farming Union do not act on behalf of their 15,000 farmers members. They act on behalf of all their other members which are corporates or village folk who have no connection to farming other than watching it out of their rural retreat windows.

Yes, I know exactly who are the drivers behind RT …
My post was slightly tongue-in-cheek but now “the dream” has been sold to the supermarkets, I wonder if they will “allow” U.K. farmers to have no assurance schemes backing the primary products
For example, as a dairy farmer, I have no option but to be RT assured even though only a small proportion of my product will be on supermarket shelves … in common with most farmers who don’t sell direct. Even the aligned milk is pooled despite the extra hoops aligned farmers have to jump over

@7610 super q suggested that assurance schemes could be done away with. Whilst we may all want that nirvana, the cat is out of the bag and the horse has left the stable
 
Yes, I know exactly who are the drivers behind RT …
My post was slightly tongue-in-cheek but now “the dream” has been sold to the supermarkets, I wonder if they will “allow” U.K. farmers to have no assurance schemes backing the primary products
For example, as a dairy farmer, I have no option but to be RT assured even though only a small proportion of my product will be on supermarket shelves … in common with most farmers who don’t sell direct. Even the aligned milk is pooled despite the extra hoops aligned farmers have to jump over

@7610 super q suggested that assurance schemes could be done away with. Whilst we may all want that nirvana, the cat is out of the bag and the horse has left the stable

You surely have enough volume behind you that someone somewhere would buy your milk no matter what?

I wonder if you couldn't go selling direct since you are the main player on the sainted isle and produce milk so full of solids it goes on your corn flakes like cold engine oil?
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
One has to consider who the drivers are behind assurance.
Can’t be the supermarkets surely as the majority (?) of foodstuffs they stock would not be covered by any assurance scheme over and above food safety standards… can it?
Supermarkets don't want it as there's nothing there labelled as TickBox bog standard RT stuff. They prefer UK Quality Grain going into their products on shelves for shoppers without all the pretence of RT
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
You would hope individual schemes from separate mills etc might be more pragmatic. They would surely only be interested in the food safety of produce they take in.
Farm safety, empty chem drum disposal, lists of local bee keepers etc are not any business of the buyer.
 

Drillman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Red tractor claim they run as a not for profit organisation.

now they have a £250k hole in there budget to fill

at a £250k loss per year they haven’t long for this world unless they under go some changes PDQ.
 

Wooly

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Romney Marsh
I can't wait. Each mill will want its own assurance scheme, so will each maltster and brewer and supermarket and candlestick maker. Why don't we have one assurance scheme that covers everything? Oh ..hang on...

I wonder how all the food manufactorers and supermarkets managed to survive before FA and all the Cross compliance rules !?! :rolleyes:
Food must have been so unsafe before all that nonsense !!




Lets start a rumour that RT is about to go bust (which it probably isn't)..........just in the hope farmers decide not to pay into the scheme ............
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
You surely have enough volume behind you that someone somewhere would buy your milk no matter what?

I wonder if you couldn't go selling direct since you are the main player on the sainted isle and produce milk so full of solids it goes on your corn flakes like cold engine oil?

Goes to Glanbia to be turned in to Mozzarella (& whey for milk powder by a third party) and then in turn to Pizza Hut, Papa Johns and Dominoes as well as some supermarket own brand pizzas

I don’t think there is any dairy contract that doesn’t as a bare minimum have a requirement to be RT assured
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
I wonder how all the food manufactorers and supermarkets managed to survive before FA and all the Cross compliance rules !?! :rolleyes:
Food must have been so unsafe before all that nonsense !!




Lets start a rumour that RT is about to go bust (which it probably isn't)..........just in the hope farmers decide not to pay into the scheme ............
Aren't they bust already
 

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
The need for assurance will just end overnight. If it doesn’t exist the mills will just carry on without it using U.K. law for things like sprayer MOT and the fact we can’t use banned pesticides like other countries do then their stuff gets imported to us and enters our food chain.

Cargills Liverpool Oilseed crushing plant stopped taking UK OSR for the whole length of November, due to their purchase of boatloads of Ukranian oilseed.
Ukranian oilseed that can still legally be produced using neonicotinoid seed dressings and sprays.
IIRC, as European OSR production halved after the neonic ban, Ukranian production doubled.
We effectively exported our ecological concerns; out of sight, out of mind, hands washed, no fingers pointing at big business or 'bio' diesel; move along, nothing to see here, "look at the shiny red tractor..."
 

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

  • 1,289
  • 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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