How long do you spend preparing for RT audit?

melted welly

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
DD9.
We do small scale commercial drying and storage. New tassc inspector last yr, plus COVID, so docs uploaded onto internet. Well, Christ, he was still going over stuff and coming back with questions more than 6weeks later.

got totally hung up on wording of storage agreement that had the word “test” in it and he decided we should be a fully accredited grain lab and part of a ring testing scheme (despite initially accepting the ahdb online learning course that took more hours to complete).

FFS.

All we do is dry down rejected grain to <13%, do visual, pest, and smell checks and store it. The stuffs already been thru a lab, that’s how they decided to accept or reject it and the merchant has deemed already that the grain is acceptable for feed

Bloke wouldn’t let it lie. What a pain in the arse, fairly skunners you about the job dealing with crap like that.

Eventually he accepted a letter from the merchant clarifying that by “test” they meant “check”. 😡 still cross about it.
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
The answer for calibrating a thermometer is to say you check it says 0°C when in water with a lot of ice cubes and 100°C when in boiling water. Satisfies food standards people.
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Most industries have a governing body that require a reasonable amount of paperwork to comply with, why should agriculture be any different? Having dealt with the food standards agency professionally for a few years owning a meat catering business, I find the RT audit no problem at all and far far easier to conquer.

For beef and crops with on farm grain storage, a well organised approach on behalf of the business owner should mean that everything they ask for is readily available. I challenge myself every year to have everything they ask for immediately to hand, almost to the point that I guide them through what they need to see in the order I want it to go. Most of it is not that outrageous, admittedly there’s a few things that can puzzle the mind, but on the whole record keeping and cleanliness should be part of every day farming business.

Whilst I’m not a fan of red tape as a rule, I think we need to be realistic and acknowledge that we, like the rest of the business world, will be forever under the scrutiny of some sort of governing body that many will call bureaucracy, and most will call unnecessary.

The key is not to get worked up about it, but I know that’s easier said than done. At worst they write you a list of non compliance’s, which you have 28 days to rectify. FSA has the authority to shut you down on the spot. Compliant businesses have access to larger, broader markets which if exploited correctly do offer financial benefits.

I don’t mean to make light of the stress that RT brings, nor am I suggesting that I have it all worked out. I’m merely trying to suggest that it can be far more palatable by keeping on top of things rather than panicking as inspection day looms, and that we are not the only ones with certification bodies that like to check up on us.
Is there a Red Transit scheme for scrap metal merchants ? :)
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
What’s a moisture meter clinic. I just tell them that I calibrate it with 2 neighbours .
Another money making spin off run by dealers. You turn up and they have tubs of samples of known moisture. You test your own machine against the samples and the 12 year old lad from protimeter or Martin lash man says it’s good enough and signs it and dates it and you get charged £12 though some are free. You might get a certificate as well. Usually there place is bunged out with grandparents who have been sent to do the test as everybody else is too busy. It’s surprising what turns up equipment wise. Sometimes it’s like the antiques road show with folks winding megger handles and waiting for valves to warm up on something the size of a 1970’s colour telly.
 

spin cycle

Member
Location
north norfolk
Most industries have a governing body that require a reasonable amount of paperwork to comply with, why should agriculture be any different? Having dealt with the food standards agency professionally for a few years owning a meat catering business, I find the RT audit no problem at all and far far easier to conquer.

For beef and crops with on farm grain storage, a well organised approach on behalf of the business owner should mean that everything they ask for is readily available. I challenge myself every year to have everything they ask for immediately to hand, almost to the point that I guide them through what they need to see in the order I want it to go. Most of it is not that outrageous, admittedly there’s a few things that can puzzle the mind, but on the whole record keeping and cleanliness should be part of every day farming business.

Whilst I’m not a fan of red tape as a rule, I think we need to be realistic and acknowledge that we, like the rest of the business world, will be forever under the scrutiny of some sort of governing body that many will call bureaucracy, and most will call unnecessary.

The key is not to get worked up about it, but I know that’s easier said than done. At worst they write you a list of non compliance’s, which you have 28 days to rectify. FSA has the authority to shut you down on the spot. Compliant businesses have access to larger, broader markets which if exploited correctly do offer financial benefits.

I don’t mean to make light of the stress that RT brings, nor am I suggesting that I have it all worked out. I’m merely trying to suggest that it can be far more palatable by keeping on top of things rather than panicking as inspection day looms, and that we are not the only ones with certification bodies that like to check up on us.

point is it's bullcr@p for all industries.....eroding our competitiveness ....thats why we've lost our real industries to other countries...leaving our country reliant on 'nail bars' and 'coffee shops'......all this paper chase has achieved is the death of integrity ie get the paperwork right and you can lie/cheat/dodge all you want


Is there a Red Transit scheme for scrap metal merchants ? :)

i rather think it's worse TBH.....waste handler licences?
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
point is it's bullcr@p for all industries.....eroding our competitiveness ....thats why we've lost our real industries to other countries...leaving our country reliant on 'nail bars' and 'coffee shops'......all this paper chase has achieved is the death of integrity ie get the paperwork right and you can lie/cheat/dodge all you want




i rather think it's worse TBH.....waste handler licences?
Couldn’t agree more. Trust and integrity gone.
Whitewash form filling and box ticking in. Yet behind the scenes nothing changes. You are still reliant on trust.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
I would never sell anything that I wasn’t prepared to feed to my own livestock or family. That’s what motivates us. That’s how we roll. Some might be prepared to pass off unsafe produce but they’ll do it just as easily under the smokescreen which is RT. They are hardly likely to fill the records in to incriminate themselves. That’s the biggest paradox of the whole thing. Just because you fill in a record doesn’t mean Jack sh!t.
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
I’ve dropped all RT don’t need it for breeding sheep and I get £5+/t less than you guys but I can store my grain in a shed, that would be classed as temporary by RT, for longer and try and make up the few pounds that way.
For the time being my view if feck all of them.

How do you sell grain?
TFF members have suggested you have to be RT to sell grain?
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
OK I know theres been a hundred threads about RT but.....

Is it just me, or does the preparation for a crops audit take un reasonable time and effort.
Saturday Afternoon, and today will be spent on 8 hrs of paperwork.
Over the year, i have tried to work out the time required, which i now estimate takes between 50 and 70 man days per year, just to prepare all the stores, paperwork, machinery, records, etc.

i dont do stress and anxiety very well, and this has become so burdensome its very very serious now.
"Whilst since about lunchtime Friday All the red tractor ' team' have kicking back in their hot tubs sipping pina coladas . "
 

Raider112

Member
Most industries have a governing body that require a reasonable amount of paperwork to comply with, why should agriculture be any different? Having dealt with the food standards agency professionally for a few years owning a meat catering business, I find the RT audit no problem at all and far far easier to conquer.

For beef and crops with on farm grain storage, a well organised approach on behalf of the business owner should mean that everything they ask for is readily available. I challenge myself every year to have everything they ask for immediately to hand, almost to the point that I guide them through what they need to see in the order I want it to go. Most of it is not that outrageous, admittedly there’s a few things that can puzzle the mind, but on the whole record keeping and cleanliness should be part of every day farming business.

Whilst I’m not a fan of red tape as a rule, I think we need to be realistic and acknowledge that we, like the rest of the business world, will be forever under the scrutiny of some sort of governing body that many will call bureaucracy, and most will call unnecessary.

The key is not to get worked up about it, but I know that’s easier said than done. At worst they write you a list of non compliance’s, which you have 28 days to rectify. FSA has the authority to shut you down on the spot. Compliant businesses have access to larger, broader markets which if exploited correctly do offer financial benefits.

I don’t mean to make light of the stress that RT brings, nor am I suggesting that I have it all worked out. I’m merely trying to suggest that it can be far more palatable by keeping on top of things rather than panicking as inspection day looms, and that we are not the only ones with certification bodies that like to check up on us.
You get financial benefits? have yet to see any premium for anything I sell, although I can be penalised if I'm not a member but that just makes it a legal protection racket.
 

Drillman

Member
Mixed Farmer
The amount of time I spend on RT is in direct proportion to the return I get on my outlay.

And occasionally I tell the inspector he’s talking rubbish or refuse to sign paperwork if I disagree with them.

one particularly obnoxious git of an inspector was banned from our premises and his company NSF we’re told they were no longer welcome either.
 

Zippy768

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Dorset/Wilts
It has always sufficed here to say that i check calibrate the meters pre-harvest against samples supplied by either one of a couple of local mills. Which is good practice anyway.
Surely it isnt good enough to "say"?
I got moaned at because I put "March 2020" on a fert calibration and not an actual date!
 

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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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