Upgrade from Red Tractor to LEAF. Much work?

[PhilipB]

I think I've got to do this, for the benefit of top fruit marketing.

Trouble is that arable and sheep have got to be on board too (and I dropped out of red tractor lamb because it added zero value.)

My question is, is it going to be much work, am I going to find nasty surprises as I dig into the protocol?

 

[Brisel]

My RT inspector tells me it's an entire day for a LEAF Marque audit vs a couple of hours for Red Tractor.

 

[Clive]

trouble is it’s not an upgrade but more of an addition/ extra cost / extra paperwork

you will still need to do Red Tractor i think ?

I would love to do LEAF and could easy meet the standard but unless someone is offering me additional premiums as a result what’s the point ?

 

[farenheit]

You can do the leaf audit on the same day as the rt audit but you have to be red tractor as well

 

[JonL]

I did LEAF Marque for the ADM OSR contract. Like you say all enterprises on the farm need “an underlying assurance scheme”. It is a step on from RT but I think RT is catching up from a paperwork point of view. Expect to have to pay for a professional conservation plan from FWAG or similar. They will also expect to see what you put on paper is happening in practice. For me it was a no brainer for the ADM job. If the cash benefit was sub £5k per year I’d be thinking hard about it unless I was already doing everything required

 

[PhilipB]

Thanks. Useful stuff.

I've had a look through, apart from the environmental report and polishing up a heap of farm policies it looks pretty straightforward.

(plus getting in a vet to write a flock health plan, which was the final straw for us with red tractor lamb)

And the people on the end of the phone are actually helpful, unlike NTS, in my experience.

 

[JonL]

They might be helpful but they are also completely inflexble! I gave up LEAF Marque in the end because they required me to do RT Produce to cover vining peas, even though the buyer had their own scheme in place (and used the LEAF Sustainable Farming REview as part of that!).

 

[Clive]

I did a OF&G AHDB webinar with John Pawsey and Charlotte Smith this last week and assurance of more environmentally sound farming systems was discussed amongst other things

Since that discussion I’ve been contacted by 2 different new schemes hoping to provide assurance for regen / conservation Ag askIng if I would like to be assured

trouble is (like LEAF) what’s the point unless the extra cost and work involved produces a premium for the produce ? This is the missing, very important ingredient of ALL assurance and until that’s resolved I just don’t see the point in any of it ?

 

[ajd132]

I did a OF&G AHDB webinar with John Pawsey and Charlotte Smith this last week and assurance of more environmentally sound farming systems was discussed amongst other things

Since that discussion I’ve been contacted by 2 different new schemes hoping to provide assurance for regen / conservation Ag askIng if I would like to be assured

trouble is (like LEAF) what’s the point unless the extra cost and work involved produces a premium for the produce ? This is the missing, very important ingredient of ALL assurance and until that’s resolved I just don’t see the point in any of it ?

Any kind of regen scheme that adds value will be set by the processors. I think it would be a struggle apart from large groups of farmers

 

[Clive]

Any kind of regen scheme that adds value will be set by the processors. I think it would be a struggle apart from large groups of farmers

i‘ve had a very interestIng conversation with a BIG retailer recently and I think it has to be retail where it starts

interestingly they were not over bothered about the assurance but more the product quality and marketing needed to help consumers understand ........... makes sense really

 

[ajd132]

i‘ve had a very interestIng conversation with a BIG retailer recently and I think it has to be retail where it starts

interestingly they were not over bothered about the assurance but more the product quality and marketing needed to help consumers understand ........... makes sense really

Agree. I’ve had similar.

 

[Brisel]

You've got to be careful that you don't end up taking the Soil Association line that runs down the competition in order to market your own goods. If you've got a cost advantage, isn't that enough for you? What extra value does LEAF Marque deliver for the growers currently? it seems to be just another tool for market access like RT rather than something useful what adds value. I did the LEAF audit years ago because it asked some good questions about the business practices and it got us out of doing Management Plans for ELS.

There is, or was, a small premium offered by ADM and Hellmans for LEAF oilseed rape. I flirted with going LEAF Marque for it but though the cost exceeded the benefit unless I could get a premium for everything else. Where is Conservation Grade now? It only gives access to supplying oats to Jordans, that's all.

 

[deleted user 837354]

It's the same issue with all assurance schemes- they exist to create employment where none existed before and everything else is merely incidental. Retailers couldn't give a hoot unless there was some tangible brand that meant they could gain additional margin or some kind of supply exclusivity to gain a marketing edge over their customers.

It would make more sense for retailers to create their own assurance schemes, with enhanced hoops and then they can say, truthfully: their suppliers meet the highest standards and we pay them more etc. etc. etc.

Not convinced the industry is anywhere near making a serious stab at environmentally friendly practice yet.