Imported grain higher standard than UK

[snipe]

If you're going to go after other countries do it on the big things like spray operator qualifications, banned chemicals, sprayer MOT's, GM etc. Apart from that standards and quality are much the same, the main difference being a bit of paper and a tidy up the day before inspection.
A lot of countries wouldn't know what a grain bucket was as all their grain is augured in and out of sealed stores.

I was trying to think of the most pointless thing we have to do to show how meaningless our scheme is.

 

[Flatlander]

I’ve farmed both in the uk and now in Canada. When in the uk we were constantly told that Canadian wheat was the millers favourite for high standards and quality. It can be But there is numerous piles of grain in a good year because storage is lacking. For the most part everyone will store grain in bins. Blow air to freeze if fir longer term storage over winter to stop bugs from breeding. I myself sell most to a local feed I’ll and they test more than the bigger grain elevators that export it. Rules are getting tighter but no where near wat they will be within the uk. As a matter of fact I get paid as much or more for very clean wheat to feed pigs than I can get to mill for bread. Gone of the days when if it’s crap wheat pigs will eat it. I store oats in a shed on a concrete floor and load the out with a telehandler. Often i won’t close the doors to let the dust blow out and find pigeons and deer have been there overnight. Theses oats are for human consumption and exported to the states.

 

[Barleymow]

I was trying to think of the most pointless thing we have to do to show how meaningless our scheme is.

Recording washing trailers that only cart grain ,grain temperature records never had trouble when we didn't check it

 

[Feldspar]

I’ve farmed both in the uk and now in Canada. When in the uk we were constantly told that Canadian wheat was the millers favourite for high standards and quality. It can be But there is numerous piles of grain in a good year because storage is lacking. For the most part everyone will store grain in bins. Blow air to freeze if fir longer term storage over winter to stop bugs from breeding. I myself sell most to a local feed I’ll and they test more than the bigger grain elevators that export it. Rules are getting tighter but no where near wat they will be within the uk. As a matter of fact I get paid as much or more for very clean wheat to feed pigs than I can get to mill for bread. Gone of the days when if it’s crap wheat pigs will eat it. I store oats in a shed on a concrete floor and load the out with a telehandler. Often i won’t close the doors to let the dust blow out and find pigeons and deer have been there overnight. Theses oats are for human consumption and exported to the states.

Do you have to have a farm inspection every year? If so, what do they check? Do you need to record when you apply fertilisers and pesticides? Do you have to record grain temperatures?

 

[Flat 10]

We are missing the point. If one cargo can come in fully certified then all cargos should also come in certified. Ministers repeatedly state. “we will maintain our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards in all trade negotiations”. This is no concession to farmers, it is an ever-tightening noose around our necks if there is no requirement for others to follow. The Government rejected the Lords Amendment seeking fair farming trade. The Minister, who should know better, stated at the dispatch box that it would require hedgerow management in Africa. Another Tory MP, (why are so many cognitively challenged), suggested that it would require UK civil servants to drive round the colonies in Union Jack adorned Morris Minors checking crops. In fact, all that would be required is that Australian imports were all certified under the ASP (Australian Sustainable Products) scheme. https://aspcertified.com.au At the moment RT is a noose, it could become a shield, are we fighting on the wrong battlefield?

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It’s not fully certified. It’s done to some arbitrary rules and becomes magically assured on the docks as they unload.

 

[betweenthelines]

I would have thought the most important question is where/by who are the tests done?

I've know ship loads of South American grain dock at small ports and the grain is in a lorry within a couple of hours-certainly no time for a Certified UK lab to test and report back.

 

[Feldspar]

I would have thought the most important question is where/by who are the tests done?

I've know ship loads of South American grain dock at small ports and the grain is in a lorry within a couple of hours-certainly no time for a Certified UK lab to test and report back.

I think if we could get hold of someone in the know we'd find that not a whole lot of testing is done for a good portion of it.

 

[Dukes Fit]

"....a cargo of imported grain arriving in this country has more tests done on it, in a methodical and recorded way, than the equivalent domestic tonnes arriving by lorry from UK farmers to the same destination"

I may have read this wrong but shouldn't that always be the case anyway? That any imports have to have more testing done than domestic produce as there would be a myriad of diseases/pestsetc that we wouldn't have in the UK?

 

[Flatlander]

Do you have to have a farm inspection every year? If so, what do they check? Do you need to record when you apply fertilisers and pesticides? Do you have to record grain temperatures?

To some degree spraying records are kept but only for personal use. No farm inspection that I know of. Oat processors are paying more for non round up desiccated oats. If that’s the case we have to sign a declaration to that fact. malathion is a big no no in grain bins that store canola. Grain temperature moisture and storage is all down to the producer. If you can deliver a certain grade and they test it as ok then it’s a done deal. Test is moisture bushel weight protien and vomitoxin for wheat. Friend has a large pile of oarts in a field few years back that were damp and once he got into the pile were heating. Some had sprouted on the surface and bottom forming a mat. I dried them in January at minus 20 and the grain elavator accepted them for human consumption but with dockage for sprouting.

 

[thorpe]

I don't mind how many tests are done on my grain. It's the shear cheek of forcing us to keep the paper trail of how many insects and mouse crap etc. There's no other reason for it than to be a well paid jobsworth.
Farmers and jobsworths don't mix well together and the falling out is not very far off.

 

[Feldspar]

To some degree spraying records are kept but only for personal use. No farm inspection that I know of. Oat processors are paying more for non round up desiccated oats. If that’s the case we have to sign a declaration to that fact. malathion is a big no no in grain bins that store canola. Grain temperature moisture and storage is all down to the producer. If you can deliver a certain grade and they test it as ok then it’s a done deal. Test is moisture bushel weight protien and vomitoxin for wheat. Friend has a large pile of oarts in a field few years back that were damp and once he got into the pile were heating. Some had sprouted on the surface and bottom forming a mat. I dried them in January at minus 20 and the grain elavator accepted them for human consumption but with dockage for sprouting.

Thanks. That's very interesting.

If you are sending grain into Europe, do you have to do anything different at all?

 

[snipe]

Regarding Canadian wheat. i Have brought this up with AIC a number of times and various other people in the supply chain, even with small independent millers and they all say the same. The Uk cannot produce the type of wheat needed and need to import the Canadian wheat, regardless of it production standards, but non of them recognise the hypocrisy of this.

 

[Barleymow]

Regarding Canadian wheat. i Have brought this up with AIC a number of times and various other people in the supply chain, even with small independent millers and they all say the same. The Uk cannot produce the type of wheat needed and need to import the Canadian wheat, regardless of it production standards, but non of them recognise the hypocrisy of this.

It's not the fact that Canadian wheat it used that's the problem. It's that it we have all the hoops to jump through that the imported grain doesn't .its not rocket science to a simple farmer to understand this

 

[Flat 10]

It's not the fact that Canadian wheat it used that's the problem. It's that it we have all the hoops to jump through that the imported grain doesn't .its not rocket science to a simple farmer to understand this

Exactly if it tests fine on intake it’s ok and the same rule should apply to us. We have to accept that grain will come in and we will never stop it but at very least more level playing field is what we need.

 

[teslacoils]

Number of boats of imported wheat rejected? We've all heard the tales of the wildlife in them. But by the time it's docked on the coast, they're not sending it back are they?

 

[Chae1]

Number of boats of imported wheat rejected? We've all heard the tales of the wildlife in them. But by the time it's docked on the coast, they're not sending it back are they?

The buyer will have someone at the port its loaded monitoring quality checks as lorries come into load ship.

I used to work at tilbury port where Brazilian soya was coming in for agriprem.

Thinking about it again, think there was insurance against rejections and someone from insurance company monitored loading and what was being loaded.

 

[teslacoils]

Well, they seem to know the exact haulage cost from my farm to the mill, so can aim any deductions under the cost of taking it back home.

 

[Flatlander]

Thanks. That's very interesting.

If you are sending grain into Europe, do you have to do anything different at all?

Grain companies probably export to the Europe but once we deliver its in a train to either Vancouver in the west or the st Lawrence sea ports In the east. dont get me wrong Canadian grain on the whole is very good quality and handled in a way that would be accepted anywhere in the world but there is always the exception. If the grain industry tried to impose rules and hoops to jump thru for producers to market grain I doubt it would tolerated. Farmer are still king of thier domain here and won’t give it up to appease someone in an office the other side of the world.

 

[Flatlander]

Well, they seem to know the exact haulage cost from my farm to the mill, so can aim any deductions under the cost of taking it back home.

Totally agree. Had it myself sending wheat to Southampton. Lorry wasn’t even there I don’t think and some snot nosed little tool was calling to tell me it had grain beetles and needed treating before it would be accepted. Just an underhanded way to screw you. Every bit of grain I haul myself to point of sale and yes I’ve had issues a couple of times with grain beetles. Once treated or if in winter they are frozen for long enough the grain was accepted. Here the grain terminals actually want and need our grain to thrive. Without massive tonnages going thru they can’t survive so they will assist as much as possible. Very refreshing after farming in the uk.

 

[wanton dwarf]

We are missing the point. If one cargo can come in fully certified then all cargos should also come in certified. Ministers repeatedly state. “we will maintain our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards in all trade negotiations”. This is no concession to farmers, it is an ever-tightening noose around our necks if there is no requirement for others to follow. The Government rejected the Lords Amendment seeking fair farming trade. The Minister, who should know better, stated at the dispatch box that it would require hedgerow management in Africa. Another Tory MP, (why are so many cognitively challenged), suggested that it would require UK civil servants to drive round the colonies in Union Jack adorned Morris Minors checking crops. In fact, all that would be required is that Australian imports were all certified under the ASP (Australian Sustainable Products) scheme. https://aspcertified.com.au At the moment RT is a noose, it could become a shield, are we fighting on the wrong battlefield?

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I doubt most of the "Imports" are "Certified" in any shape or form.

I bet they don't even abide by UK regulations .. the reason is simple.

Many countries use Pesticides BANNED in the UK .. such as the Ukraine using Neonicitinoids for Oilseed Rape, the USA importing GM Soya and Canada using banned herbicides for Wheat.

So let's be clear Uk Government is punishing UK farmers to farm whilst opening the doors wide for imports well below UK food standards.