The Red Tractor ACCS referendum

[Drillman]

I had a quick look at it earlier but looked at a glance to be the same as a online email thing we got a week or 2 ago.

If it is it’s yet another waste of our money printing and posting stuff to us that could be sent via email at much less cost.

 

[farmerm]

If we really must have red tractor why don't they make it simple and supply us with a computer program that we can fill in with all the relevant information that way we wouldn't have to search through piles of paper each time they ask for something it could be like a day to day diary so at the end of the day you could fill in the relevant information

careful what you wish for! That simple end of the day job could add up to a lot of man hours over the year!

 

[farmerm]

Anyone else read the latest Red tractor newsletter received today?

I had to put it down or I might have broken a window or something! That grinning egotistic centered on the front page

 

[stroller]

More threats of £1500 per inspection if we don't keep RT, this time from the new chairperson, can't remember her name

 

[JP1]

More threats of £1500 per inspection if we don't keep RT, this time from the new chairperson, can't remember her name

Christine Tacon

 

[Doc]

This really is getting silly. It’s simple. If enough people just opt out of RT it will cease to exist and the problem will go away. I can’t understand the fear of opting out. They are hardly going to put Ukranian flags on stuff. It’s the Union Jack the consumer wants everything else is BS.

 

[SilliamWhale]

This really is getting silly. It’s simple. If enough people just opt out of RT it will cease to exist and the problem will go away. I can’t understand the fear of opting out. They are hardly going to put Ukranian flags on stuff. It’s the Union Jack the consumer wants everything else is BS.

I think the issue is everyone pays their sub at different times so getting the collective mass of a walkout is difficult.

I think a planned campaign with a target date may have a chance to break up what is a coercive and deceitful business (deceitful because it claims imports are RT assured for the animal feed and bread industry).

Along with NFU cancellations and potentially an AHDB vote of confidence if they won't help counter what is clearly a double standard against their levy payers

 

[db9go]

This really is getting silly. It’s simple. If enough people just opt out of RT it will cease to exist and the problem will go away. I can’t understand the fear of opting out. They are hardly going to put Ukranian flags on stuff. It’s the Union Jack the consumer wants everything else is BS.

You are quite right it is getting silly but were are we going to get ride of our tons of wheat with out a ticket
I have tried and there are no tackers the big buyer are sticking together

 

[AIMS]

Reply to a tweet from Sainsbury's

Hi there. We're phasing out the Red Tractor logo on our packaging, but rest assured we're still meeting the high standards expected. You can find more information on this here: https://bit.ly/3tzF4SN. Hope this helps. Rachel

And from the Sainsbury's Website:

Why have you removed the Red Tractor logo from your products?
Customers have told us that too many logos are confusing, so we will be phasing out the use of the Red Tractor logo on packaging. We will still use the Red Tractor standards as a baseline, with many of our products reaching far higher standards

You can read more about our Sustainability Plans by visiting our corporate website.

 

[traineefarmer]

Reply to a tweet from Sainsbury's

Hi there. We're phasing out the Red Tractor logo on our packaging, but rest assured we're still meeting the high standards expected. You can find more information on this here: https://bit.ly/3tzF4SN. Hope this helps. Rachel

And from the Sainsbury's Website:

Why have you removed the Red Tractor logo from your products?
Customers have told us that too many logos are confusing, so we will be phasing out the use of the Red Tractor logo on packaging. We will still use the Red Tractor standards as a baseline, with many of our products reaching far higher standards

You can read more about our Sustainability Plans by visiting our corporate website.

And so it continues. RT is no premium scheme, it is the baseline which supermarkets and processors add their own standards to.

Like it or not, assurance schemes aren't going away, because they are what our customers (retailers) want. But with individual retailers once again having their own individual standards, what is the need for RT? We already have "baseline" standards that in the form of statutory laws that cover animal welfare, employee rights, H+S, environmental protection, food safety and traceability record keeping.

RT's purpose was to offer "premium" market access to retailers and processors while reducing the administrative burden by being a "one size fits all". It has failed from day one to deliver this as retailers and processors look to be different from their competitors so have slowly added standards to strand out as unique.

This may well be the silver bullet we are looking for. RT isn't going to be scared of of a mass farmer boycott while they hold the keys to all our markets. But if we could get a high profile customer to abandon RT as their baseline with something else, maybe the dominos will really start to topple.

 

[farmerm]

And so it continues. RT is no premium scheme, it is the baseline which supermarkets and processors add their own standards to.

Like it or not, assurance schemes aren't going away, because they are what our customers (retailers) want. But with individual retailers once again having their own individual standards, what is the need for RT? We already have "baseline" standards that in the form of statutory laws that cover animal welfare, employee rights, H+S, environmental protection, food safety and traceability record keeping.

RT's purpose was to offer "premium" market access to retailers and processors while reducing the administrative burden by being a "one size fits all". It has failed from day one to deliver this as retailers and processors look to be different from their competitors so have slowly added standards to strand out as unique.

This may well be the silver bullet we are looking for. RT isn't going to be scared of of a mass farmer boycott while they hold the keys to all our markets. But if we could get a high profile customer to abandon RT as their baseline with something else, maybe the dominos will really start to topple.

Its a baseline but its only a baseline that only applies to British foods.... if its imported the only baseline is there can be no visible rat sh!t in the finished product

 

[traineefarmer]

Its a baseline but its only a baseline that only applies to British foods.... if its imported the only baseline is there can be no visible rat sh!t in the finished product

I was thinking too much with my beef hat on.

The hypocrisy for the cereal market is much worse.

 

[Barleymow]

Well as it's all about traceability can I insist my wheat will end up in sainsbury's etc as they aren't bothered that it's not rt

 

[dairyrow]

I think we need to start one of them petition things. To get it discussed in parliament or go to a review. There must be a way to get the NFU to alter their ways to. So members can give a vote of no confidence in the leadership or not fit for purpose. Maybe it's about time somebody who actually owns the red tractor logo and the actual scheme. We've been living in fantasy land if we all thought we'd get a premium off the market from our customer's. Supermarkets setting up producer groups on COP contracts should rung alarm bells a long time ago. The only thing farmers should of invested in is supermarket shares and just kept buying in with the dividends each year. So we could of exerted some influence and become the corporate conscience.

Very disappointed reading the toddle off the red tractor lot yesterday. Was that £1500 a store really true?

 

[SilliamWhale]

I think we need to start one of them petition things. To get it discussed in parliament or go to a review. There must be a way to get the NFU to alter their ways to. So members can give a vote of no confidence in the leadership or not fit for purpose. Maybe it's about time somebody who actually owns the red tractor logo and the actual scheme. We've been living in fantasy land if we all thought we'd get a premium off the market from our customer's. Supermarkets setting up producer groups on COP contracts should rung alarm bells a long time ago. The only thing farmers should of invested in is supermarket shares and just kept buying in with the dividends each year. So we could of exerted some influence and become the corporate conscience.

Very disappointed reading the toddle off the red tractor lot yesterday. Was that £1500 a store really true?

It's not set up to give a premium. There is no means of allowing a premium to trickle back to farms. It's a scheme for liars

 

[Barleymow]

I had a quick look at it earlier but looked at a glance to be the same as a online email thing we got a week or 2 ago.

If it is it’s yet another waste of our money printing and posting stuff to us that could be sent via email at much less cost.

I have the pleasure of 2 copies of it ,if that's not a waste on my money I don't know what is
Whose up for a game of reporting minor standards lapses we can all report each other let them earn their money

 

[farmerm]

I have the pleasure of 2 copies of it ,if that's not a waste on my money I don't know what is
Whose up for a game of reporting minor standards lapses we can all report each other let them earn their money

2 copies... can you get money for reporting them to themselves for sub standard management of their mailing list?

 

[Steevo]

And so it continues. RT is no premium scheme, it is the baseline which supermarkets and processors add their own standards to.

Like it or not, assurance schemes aren't going away, because they are what our customers (retailers) want. But with individual retailers once again having their own individual standards, what is the need for RT? We already have "baseline" standards that in the form of statutory laws that cover animal welfare, employee rights, H+S, environmental protection, food safety and traceability record keeping.

RT's purpose was to offer "premium" market access to retailers and processors while reducing the administrative burden by being a "one size fits all". It has failed from day one to deliver this as retailers and processors look to be different from their competitors so have slowly added standards to strand out as unique.

This may well be the silver bullet we are looking for. RT isn't going to be scared of of a mass farmer boycott while they hold the keys to all our markets. But if we could get a high profile customer to abandon RT as their baseline with something else, maybe the dominos will really start to topple.

I'd like to see an individual retailer having their own scheme and imposing it on cereal producers. Unless growers were to have a contract to grow for one producer I cannot see how this could or would happen. The wheat I grow all goes in one big heap, and over the course of the year ends up in many different products, made by many different manufacturers, which ends up on many different supermarket shelves, in the catering industry, and who knows where else. Good luck to Tesco telling me I need x, y, or z to supply them. I'll just sell it to someone else instead who will use it to make bread rolls for the catering trade (which could end up in The Ritz or Claridges for all I know). That's how markets work.

 

[MrNoo]

Good luck to Tesco telling me I need x, y, or z to supply them.

They'd want to see your COP figures first, I wonder how long the RT Cartel will go before wanting such information from us, surely just around the corner

 

[Drillman]

I think we need to start one of them petition things. To get it discussed in parliament or go to a review. There must be a way to get the NFU to alter their ways to. So members can give a vote of no confidence in the leadership or not fit for purpose. Maybe it's about time somebody who actually owns the red tractor logo and the actual scheme. We've been living in fantasy land if we all thought we'd get a premium off the market from our customer's. Supermarkets setting up producer groups on COP contracts should rung alarm bells a long time ago. The only thing farmers should of invested in is supermarket shares and just kept buying in with the dividends each year. So we could of exerted some influence and become the corporate conscience.

Very disappointed reading the toddle off the red tractor lot yesterday. Was that £1500 a store really true?

Yes I was a bit suprised RT are disapointed we have questioned them!!

what do they expect?

After all farmers are majority funders of RT (50% direct and a further 5% via AHBD) so we should have every right to question how our money is been spent.

I would think RT will be even more disappointed to learn that farmers will continue to pile pressure on and question there every move until they start providing us a return on our not inconsiderable investment in RT over the last 20 years!