Mouse plague in Aus....... what a mess.

[Bury the Trash]

If you honestly think we export anything that is knowingly contaminated then you are seriously delusional Clive.

Mouse poo contamination creates havoc for sorghum farmers and exporters - ABC News

amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org

He never said you did,the point is you dont have to have red tractor farm assurance but we do for the same market in our Country.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

We do have quality assurance schemes. I am unfamiliar with that of grains. But from a dairying point of view we are audited regularly. Bought in feed is meant to come with vendor declarations stating chemical useage, weeds, etc etc. I had to fill out one for hay that I listed for sale today.

Again another misnomer because we dont have a pink with purple pokadots one size fits all scheme.
And how would red tractor stop a plague like that ?

And just for the record. The mice are not nation wide. Much of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia are plague free.

 

[marco]

The mice arrived on same boats as the convicts.

They bred at the ports and continued inland.

Ai, and the mice weren't far behind

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

The audit schemes in Aus and NZ are driven by their overseas buyers. It's not the producer's fault if the British mills don't demand assurance scheme compliance when they buy from them.

 

[kiwi pom]

The audit schemes in Aus and NZ are driven by their overseas buyers. It's not the producer's fault if the British mills don't demand assurance scheme compliance when they buy from them.

You only have to look at all the dairy processors and all the audits, compliance and hoops their suppliers have to jump through to know farmers here can't just do what they like and export product with no checks. Just because RT isn't here doesn't mean there's no compliance.

 

[kiwi pom]

Farm level assurance ? imports mixed with ours ?

Red Tractor ? …… bullucks !

To be fair that didn't look like an export store, more a, we need somewhere to put this before we feed it or sell it for stock feed, which won't happen now.
They did say it was a bumper crop.
There will be plenty of similar stores on UK farms where a bit of grain is stored for feeding or chucking through a roller mill.
At the end of the day, the customer is always right, if they want RT then that's what you have to do. Don't think you need RT to export grain do you?

 

[Clive]

To be fair that didn't look like an export store, more a, we need somewhere to put this before we feed it or sell it for stock feed, which won't happen now.
They did say it was a bumper crop.
There will be plenty of similar stores on UK farms where a bit of grain is stored for feeding or chucking through a roller mill.
At the end of the day, the customer is always right, if they want RT then that's what you have to do. Don't think you need RT to export grain do you?

do you have any farm level assurance in AUS / NZ for grain ?

We don’t want red tractor in the uk and are working to get rid of it - thats really no snall task however

i can totally see how hard it must be to understand from the outside- it
is trylly unbelievable the situation these people have created

 

[snipe]

Lot of people on here wishing a LOT of misfortune on fellow farmers as @Gerbert said too.

I don’t think anyone is wishing misfortune on anyone. I think there might be a bit of p!ss taking out of a fellow Ozzy farmer who regularly posts on here With strong opinions on where Uk farmers are going wrong.

 

[Clive]

If you honestly think we export anything that is knowingly contaminated then you are seriously delusional Clive.

Mouse poo contamination creates havoc for sorghum farmers and exporters - ABC News

amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org

do you have farm level assurance ? - an inspection on farm yearly that you pay for ?

 

[Clive]

I don’t think anyone is wishing misfortune on anyone. I think there might be a bit of p!ss taking out of a fellow Ozzy farmer who regularly posts on here With strong opinions on where Uk farmers are going wrong.

i have no issues with how imports are produced

my beef is with the stupid Red Tractor scheme in the uk that means nothing once our produce is blended with imports

and we HAVE TO pay for it !

 

[7610 super q]

I don’t think anyone is wishing misfortune on anyone. I think there might be a bit of p!ss taking out of a fellow Ozzy farmer who regularly posts on here With strong opinions on where Uk farmers are going wrong.

And we are told on a regular basis other countries produce is of a similar standard to ours.
Yeah, right.
Hope I don't end up with the crusty bits off the top for breakfast....

 

[lloyd]

i have no issues with how imports are produced

my beef is with the stupid Red Tractor scheme in the uk that means nothing once our produce is blended with imports

and we HAVE TO pay for it !

Our price should not be set on import parity whilst
red tractor exists.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

do you have farm level assurance ? - an inspection on farm yearly that you pay for ?

Speaking from a dairying point of view. Yes.

 

[Cowabunga]

Having just gone through the Red Tractor Dairy and FAWL beef and sheep assurance, I can tell you first hand that the dairy one makes the demands of the others pale into the trivial. We not only have to pay for the assurance but we have to provide comprehensive figures to the vet who we must pay to produce a comprehensive Health Plan, take courses on antibiotic use, have a plan to reduce that use, record every single use with batch numbers and meat and milk withdrawal dates, manure and fertiliser plans, milking machine official service records, the condition of all facilities, milking machine, storage tanks, handling facilities including the crush floor, cattle trailer cleanliness and condition and animal inspection and on and on and on.

In case anyone is wondering and want to troll [again], yes I did pass with no non-conformances or even recorded recommendations.

Others have indeed been shut down by the Farm Assurance lately, probably with total justification and not before time if my experience of seeing farms over a wide area is anything to go by. I know of one farm that hasn't been able to sell their milk from around 200 cows at all this year. They just can't meet the standards and have now, I believe, given up trying and are getting out of milk and into beef and sheep.

 

[kiwi pom]

do you have any farm level assurance in AUS / NZ for grain ?

We don’t want red tractor in the uk and are working to get rid of it - thats really no snall task however

i can totally see how hard it must be to understand from the outside- it
is trylly unbelievable the situation these people have created

I'm not familiar with grain. A lot depends on where its going, the local flour mill is owned by the farmers who grow the wheat, so I don't know how badly they shaft themselves. Most would be feed wheat though and I don't think you'd find many farms just doing grain. Grass and other small seeds will be whatever standard the exporter and the countries its going to require.
Dairy is whatever the processor wants and they seem to be falling over each other to add more and more compliance audits plus environmental requirements.
Global G.A.P and NZ G.A.P would be the most common assurance schemes I think.
Most farmers grow or produce for a known market or on contract, so each buyer sets their standards. Grow spuds for McCain for example and you have to do whatever McDonalds want.
Which is probably what will happen when you get rid of RT, each buyer will have their own rules.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I'm not familiar with grain. A lot depends on where its going, the local flour mill is owned by the farmers who grow the wheat, so I don't know how badly they shaft themselves. Most would be feed wheat though and I don't think you'd find many farms just doing grain. Grass and other small seeds will be whatever standard the exporter and the countries its going to require.
Dairy is whatever the processor wants and they seem to be falling over each other to add more and more compliance audits plus environmental requirements.
Global G.A.P and NZ G.A.P would be the most common assurance schemes I think.
Most farmers grow or produce for a known market or on contract, so each buyer sets their standards. Grow spuds for McCain for example and you have to do whatever McDonalds want.
Which is probably what will happen when you get rid of RT, each buyer will have their own rules.

I think the anger here is really aimed at the UK buyers double standards, not at you overseas producers. I'm sure British retailers sourcing from overseas impose equivalent supply contract rules to those here. It's the UK intermediaries who play us off against unverified imports it seems.

 

[CornishTone]

do you have farm level assurance ? - an inspection on farm yearly that you pay for ?

Certainly in South Australia, growers can be asked for all application and storage records like here but, it’s driven by the buyerather than a government based scheme.

Australia, as a net exporter of food, has to meet import requirements from all over the world, what ever they may be. That becomes part of trade negotiations of course and is subject to change depending on the destination. All they can do is follow the market requirements and keep the right paperwork, same as here.

As an example, chlorothalonil was banned as a product used on certain exported pulses (it’s not used in cereals), whilst I was there because a few destinations didn’t want treated produce so, certain export products didn’t get treated. It means they have to be flexible to hit export market requirements. Every truck load of grain entering a store is sampled and tested for banned products. It’s not worth being the one load that gets a silo rejected!!!

It becomes tricky when countries like China use trade as a weapon and move the goal posts on a whim though, as happened with Australian wine recently.

 

[Clive]

Certainly in South Australia, growers can be asked for all application and storage records like here but, it’s driven by the buyerather than a government based scheme.

Australia, as a net exporter of food, has to meet import requirements from all over the world, what ever they may be. That becomes part of trade negotiations of course and is subject to change depending on the destination. All they can do is follow the market requirements and keep the right paperwork, same as here.

As an example, chlorothalonil was banned as a product used on certain exported pulses (it’s not used in cereals), whilst I was there because a few destinations didn’t want treated produce so, certain export products didn’t get treated. It means they have to be flexible to hit export market requirements. Every truck load of grain entering a store is sampled and tested for banned products. It’s not worth being the one load that gets a silo rejected!!!

It becomes tricky when countries like China use trade as a weapon and move the goal posts on a whim though, as happened with Australian wine recently.

importantly there is no requirement for FARM level assurance to import to the uk

assurance on imports starts at merchant level, not in the field

Grain could not be kept in a UK farm store that had evidence of a single mouse ……. the imports our grain is then mixed with have no requirement for checks on the farm store

 

[CornishTone]

importantly there is no requirement fir FARM level assurance to import to the uk

assurance on imports starts at merchant level, not in the field

No, there is no assurance scheme. As you point out, they’re a waste of time and money so, why bother?

They only have to fulfil the requirements of the export license, and if those requirements differ from domestic production requirements then that isn’t the growers fault, it’s down to trade negotiations... which in the UK’s case, is our governments fault.

All farm paperwork can be inspected on request, as can storage facilities where appropriate, but most send their produce direct to storage rather than store on farm, so it’s that which would be inspected regularly.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

importantly there is no requirement for FARM level assurance to import to the uk

assurance on imports starts at merchant level, not in the field

Grain could not be kept in a UK farm store that had evidence of a single mouse ……. the imports our grain is then mixed with have no requirement for checks on the farm store

And just exactly how would any "assurance " scheme keep mice out when in plague proportion like here? People cant keep them out of their houses atm. So I doubt you could keep them out of any building. Apart from silo bags, 99% of on farm storages here are sealed silos.