Red Tractor sector board passes leadership vote of no confidence

[MrNoo]

Yup exactly, my unassured markets virtually disappeared overnight. Those crops that you could get rid of legally unassured certainly last year were virtually impossible, so they have been working hard to cut off unassured markets. I had 330t of winter beans to get rid of, trader placed them the year before no issue but last year said they had to be assured, sat in my shed unassured. We got rid of them eventually. Be it AIC, RT or ADHB some of them have been working overtime to cut off unassured market access.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Yup exactly, my unassured markets virtually disappeared overnight. Those crops that you could get rid of legally unassured certainly last year were virtually impossible, so they have been working hard to cut off unassured markets. I had 330t of winter beans to get rid of, trader placed them the year before no issue but last year said they had to be assured, sat in my shed unassured. We got rid of them eventually. Be it AIC, RT or ADHB some of them have been working overtime to cut off unassured market access.

yes aided and abetted by the nfu , crazy situation when you actually think about it

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Farming Today - 26/04/2024: Red Tractor, Tree nursery, Universal Credit, Isle of Luing cattle - 26/04/2024: Red Tractor, Tree nursery, Universal Credit, Isle of Luing cattle - BBC Sounds

Red Tractor scheme's executive has lost the confidence of the National Sheep Association.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Grass And Grain]

View attachment 1178481View attachment 1178482

Farming Today - 26/04/2024: Red Tractor, Tree nursery, Universal Credit, Isle of Luing cattle - 26/04/2024: Red Tractor, Tree nursery, Universal Credit, Isle of Luing cattle - BBC Sounds

Red Tractor scheme's executive has lost the confidence of the National Sheep Association.

www.bbc.co.uk

Have NSA got the clout to start their own assurance scheme? and all farmers drop RT in favour of the NSA one.

 

[Drillman]

Have NSA got the clout to start their own assurance scheme? and all farmers drop RT in favour of the NSA one.

Little need for assurance for beef or lamb. red tractor won’t admit it but they know beef and sheep assurance is a lost cause. They sell just as well without.

 

[Grass And Grain]

Little need for assurance for beef or lamb. red tractor won’t admit it but they know beef and sheep assurance is a lost cause. They sell just as well without.

I imagine if everyone dropped out of assurance, the supermarkets would just carry on buying British beef as before.

 

[Drillman]

I imagine if everyone dropped out of assurance, the supermarkets would just carry on buying British beef as before.

There’s a lot of UK produced Unassured beef and lamb finding places on retailers shelves

I checked with the auctioneers twice at
Our local fat market and they said no difference to price or buying ability without the sticker, a sentiment echoed by many other markets I believe

we’ve been happy with the prices achieved since we scrapped beef assurance 2 years ago, management wise from a livestock care point of view we’ve actually done nothing different but no hoops to jump thru apart from those required by law and the saving of several hundreds in inspection fees.so far

what’s not to like

 

[JP1]

Yup exactly, my unassured markets virtually disappeared overnight. Those crops that you could get rid of legally unassured certainly last year were virtually impossible, so they have been working hard to cut off unassured markets. I had 330t of winter beans to get rid of, trader placed them the year before no issue but last year said they had to be assured, sat in my shed unassured. We got rid of them eventually. Be it AIC, RT or ADHB some of them have been working overtime to cut off unassured market access.

I doubt you’d get the same public outcry with a Mr Bates style documentary but it’s still a scandal of epic proportions

Can you imagine the USDA penalising their farmers in the same way ?

 

[Grass And Grain]

I doubt you’d get the same public outcry with a Mr Bates style documentary but it’s still a scandal of epic proportions

Can you imagine the USDA penalising their farmers in the same way ?

It's shocking isn't it.

AHDB have not only backed the current situation, but they actually partly own the Red Tractor assurance company we have to pay to get market access for grain! knowing full well imports and rest of world haven't got those costs and it all gets blended into same packet of flour.

All the above been done while the farmers have had perfectly robust food safety checks done by the statutory authorities. Food production premises get audited by our government agencies to make sure food is safe. The FSA are absolutely content with this system.

AHDB and NFU thought we needed to double check this and pay RT to do it. Just so happens AHDB and NFU owned RT and those farmers involved were on the gravy train merry-go-round of positions at RT and AHDB. About £25-30,000 per annum if you land sector chairs job at AHDB. And now they've given themselves a levy pay rise without actually pollin the levy payers' opinion.

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Could someone please confirm the NFU's position on this.
Apologies if I've missed it somewhere, but I haven't read anywhere whether the NFU backed the vote of no confidence.
It says that all farmer representatives did which you would assume included the NFU.
On the other hand, it would seem a strange thing for them to do when they are waiting for the results of their review.

Any information would be much appreciated.

 

[yellowbelly]

Could someone please confirm the NFU's position on this.
Apologies if I've missed it somewhere, but I haven't read anywhere whether the NFU backed the vote of no confidence.
It says that all farmer representatives did which you would assume included the NFU.
On the other hand, it would seem a strange thing for them to do when they are waiting for the results of their review.

Any information would be much appreciated.

They all seem to be running around on some glorified damage limitation exercise, saying different things - meanwhile Jimmy Moseley is telling anybody that will listen that RT is a victim of it's own sucess..

 

[livestock 1]

I think now is the time to take careful consideration of what has happened and what is happening.
Putting aside the ‘rot’ that is in the red tractor ownership and the decision making board we have learnt that Red Tractor has become something that works against us rather than gaining us a premium for our products which is what it was sold to farmers as. Instead of adding a premium to our products it has ended up being something you have ‘not to be discounted’ especially in times when the market is under strain. Obviously the supermarket involvement has encouraged this situation but from this point onwards it’s difficult to see how red tractor can be anything else than what it is now .

 

[Jackov Altraids]

They all seem to be running around on some glorified damage limitation exercise, saying different things - meanwhile Jimmy Moseley is telling anybody that will listen that RT is a victim of it's own sucess..
View attachment 1178766

It would seem like Jim Moseley is a victim of his success at providing benefits to one end of the supply chain at the time and expense of those at the primary production end.
I'm still keen to know if the NFU have admitted that RT has evolved into precisely the scheme that they proposed it was set up to avoid. [as above]

 

[Drillman]

They all seem to be running around on some glorified damage limitation exercise, saying different things - meanwhile Jimmy Moseley is telling anybody that will listen that RT is a victim of it's own sucess..
View attachment 1178766

Successful in what exactly?

As a farmer I’m still waiting for a positive answer to that question?

 

[J 1177]

Successful in what exactly?

As a farmer I’m still waiting for a positive answer to that question?

Succesfull in keeping the supermarkets in vast profits whilst shafting farmers. The mans right

 

[Drillman]

Succesfull in keeping the supermarkets in vast profits whilst shafting farmers. The mans right

Yep like I said nothing even remotely positive for farmers

 

[slackjawedyokel]

It looks like RT management is taking the Teflon- ‘carry on regardless’ approach.

From FG:

I assume that the only reason they are still there is that they still have retailer support as retailers must still see some value in (this management of) RT.

It stinks. I hope we are all telling our representatives what we think of this version of RT (be that NFU, AHDB, NSA etc).

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I assume that the only reason they are still there is that they still have retailer support as retailers must still see some value in (this management of) RT.

The retailers "sponsor" the NFU and possibly the other unions who own red tractor. They may be corporate members too, wielding further influence.

It looks like the NFU needs their corporate membership to survive, and that's why they support the dead tractor instead of "backing British farmers".

 

[ajd132]

The retailers "sponsor" the NFU and possibly the other unions who own red tractor. They may be corporate members too, wielding further influence.

It looks like the NFU needs their corporate membership to survive, and that's why they support the dead tractor instead of "backing British farmers".

It would be good to see some concrete evidence of corporate membership and what they are paying, would need to be many many thousands each for the supermarkets etc to have an effect on the finances of the nfu.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

The retailers "sponsor" the NFU and possibly the other unions who own red tractor. They may be corporate members too, wielding further influence.

It looks like the NFU needs their corporate membership to survive, and that's why they support the dead tractor instead of "backing British farmers".

I suppose, looking on the bright side, there is more chance of NFU doing something about the RT situation under it’s current management than previously.
I can’t imagine the previous president would ever have pulled the plug on GFC.
Presumably that has already caused a bit of friction between NFU and any corporate sponsors.

It’s up to the NFU to decide where its allegiances lie. Hopefully it’s with us. I’m sure that if it’s seen to be wholeheartedly behind farmers then their farming membership would increase. I’d rejoin for a start!