? RT isn't for the farmer, its for the supply chain and if you want to sell into that supply change you need assured to their standard. If you don't want to, then no one is forcing you to.
The uk's always trying to lead the world in following rules even if it breaks us. Unfortunatly the uk's commonsense has been thrown away to fulfil these rules.So what’s all the cross compliance rules for then !?!
Non FA food is still safe to eat.
..... and to think that parts of the world are drinking water out of a pond that animals are wallowing in; others are starving........ and we are worrying wether we have written in the FA book when the cat was last wormed !
What a mad, mad world !
So what’s all the cross compliance rules for then !?!
Non FA food is still safe to eat.
..... and to think that parts of the world are drinking water out of a pond that animals are wallowing in; others are starving........ and we are worrying wether we have written in the FA book when the cat was last wormed !
What a mad, mad world !
The Dutch even have an expression for it "gedoggen"The uk's always trying to lead the world in following rules even if it breaks us. Unfortunatly the uk's commonsense has been thrown away to fulfil these rules.
And you, more than many, would look at all the other add on costs now you have to prove to DEFRA what a breed is to meet a gold plated EU rule....... Our own little Breed Society (8 active breeders) spends over a third of it's membership fees just getting our books audited - which in itself is comical given the EU's macro auditing record ....It helps to remember the origins of Red Tractor.
The Food Safety Act 1990 provided for a defence to legal proceedings for offences under the act of due diligence.
The Supermarkets and other members of the buyer cartel have created Farm Assurance as a means of their being provided with that due dilgence defence at the expense of their suppliers who pay for the inspections the buyers would otherwise have to fund themselves..
Farm Assurance has also provided a means whereby those cartels can control the way the primary producer markets their produce to the detriment of the primary producer.
If the buyer cartels were to fund Red Tractor directly I might consider joining.
However, I already pay taxes to fund the enforcement of the law of the land and I have the right of appeal to the courts in the event that I am not happy with action taken.
I have no representation or appeal in the Red Tractor process which is an additional expense, effectively a tax levied by buyer cartels.
No taxation without representation was the call to arms following tne Boston Tea Party and American Independence.
Time for another Tea Party!
@Clive has hit the nail on the head.
All food is produced to UK standards of food hygiene, environmental laws, animal health and welfare etc.
Farmers can expect (and get) spot or arranged inspections from the Environment Agency, Trading Standards, RPA, Dairy Inspectorate etc. In my experience, these checks are more in-depth and rigorous than anf RT inspection (for the points of law and things that really matter).
This means the food is fit for human consumption, and is produced to high standards.
There are, i think 55-60,000 farmer members of RT. If the average cost is £200 each, that is £11 million gone out of farmers pockets to a protection racket that isn't getting us any premium.
I think as a starting point, we need some farmer representatives who are voted on by the grass root farmer members. Let us decide who our own representatives will be.
I had exactly this happen to me. My previous inspector would never pass us. He would walk around and around till he found something to fail us on, even though he had passed it the previous year.Careful what you wish for. Some folk have been known to have visits from inspectors, to audit the auditors that have already been.....
so do II love this idea of a "farmer lead" assurance group
Then set one up. You have yourself and all the other farmers on here. You could use the forum openly to come up with standards that all agree on and then launch it to the minority of framers who don't use TFF. No rush, you could spend a year coming up with a set of standards for each sector.so do I
at last we agree on something
No I will let you do it as you are so keenThen set one up. You have yourself and all the other farmers on here. You could use the forum openly to come up with standards that all agree on and then launch it to the minority of framers who don't use TFF. No rush, you could spend a year coming up with a set of standards for each sector.
I had exactly this happen to me. My previous inspector would never pass us. He would walk around and around till he found something to fail us on, even though he had passed it the previous year.
So I complained to NSF that he wasn't being fair. His own boss over-ruled his decision about our spray shed not being insulated, because (as it just so happened) I had got some Hessian sacking stored in it that could be used as insulation.
The following year, when he rang up to book an agreed inspection date, 5 minutes later he rang back to ask if I still wanted to go ahead with that date, because an auditor would be auditing him as we were being inspected. To his utter surprise, I said that it would be fine and to stick with that date.
Guess what - we passed with flying colours! Even though one of my Air/water/soil books was out of date. The auditor downloaded to latest version onto my computer for me. (I had no idea how to do that then!)
Fortunately, that twit stopped doing inspections and his boss now inspects us (the same one that does @Clive). He is a much more reasonable fellow and very fair.
I think a farmer lead scheme is a non-starter as it needs independence. But I think RT is lacking as well. Great farms get RT accreditation, medium standard farms get RT accreditation and as we all know, so do some awful farms. Plus you have great farms who don't bother with RT at all and some truly shocking farms that can't be segregated from them.No I will let you do it as you are so keen
What standards of qualification and professional integrity would you apply to those employed as inspectors?I think a farmer lead scheme is a non-starter as it needs independence. But I think RT is lacking as well. Great farms get RT accreditation, medium standard farms get RT accreditation and as we all know, so do some awful farms. Plus you have great farms who don't bother with RT at all and some truly shocking farms that can't be segregated from them.
I think a system of pass scale would be the way forward. As far as I know that's what the current DEFRA S of S, Gove, is in favour of. He wants it to include environmental standards as well. So you could pass with 1 star or you could pass with 5 stars (or you could fail). No doubt some buyers would specify that they only bought from 5 star farms. The real driver of quality though would be farmers themselves. Would you really be happy being the only 1 star farmer in the county? It's just benchmarking with teeth.
Nah, not that one. He just thought it was very clever to fail me. But he got his comeuppance. That suited me fine and a lot of others around here too.Your mistake was not leaving something very minor for him to stumble across easily, as should be common practice with all inspectors, whatever body they are from.
If they are still being difficult then move to phase two, appealing to their sense of self importance. Ask their advice on something, then listen intently to their answer nodding occasionally.