What do Red Tractor do for their money?

Worsall

Member
Arable Farmer
That is very true. I have heard of some on aligned contracts actually surrendering them because of the hoops to go through and the quarterly checks

Could well be a case of being careful what you wish for
That may be true, and it is up to anyone who sells at a premium to choose how many hoops they wish to jump through.
But if we just sit back and take your attitude, you would now have been bound by all the extra rules RT was about to implement.
It is only by standing up to these organisations that we can try and keep any type of blanket assurance scheme reasonable.
 

Highashgrange

Member
Arable Farmer
Average farm business surely pays them £300-500 a year.

Can any of their acolytes tell me what they do for their money?

Apart from employee's like Guy Smith wanting a "fresh pair of eyes" on his business (albeit unqualified to advise on health and safety and legal aspects) what does everyone get for their money? Seriously now

Their days are numbered due to the sheer amount of discontentment with them in agriculture and it’s not just farmers either. Other entities are wondering what they are actually paying for.
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
They charge you to check your sprayer has passed an annual NSTS test. Then fail you if it hasn't

That's 3 x more often than SQC ask for.

Grain can then be sold to same end users.

So they charge us for extra checks over and above the legal requirement, with no premium for doing so, and same market access as SQC or those pesticide declaration imports.

Other thing they do is rent offices in a pricey London postcode, whilst about 85% of our fee gets swallowed by the inspection company.
Plus their inflated salaries and pensions they award themselves from the fraudulent racket financed by us. Don't forget that honourable union own RT and are complicent in stealing our money
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
That may be true, and it is up to anyone who sells at a premium to choose how many hoops they wish to jump through.
But if we just sit back and take your attitude, you would now have been bound by all the extra rules RT was about to implement.
It is only by standing up to these organisations that we can try and keep any type of blanket assurance scheme reasonable.

Clause 3 of my milk contract stipulates that it is a requirement of supply that the farm/business is RT compliant.

I don't actually object to being audited to ensure that the farm is presentable and that we are doing our best to produce a wholesome product.

I do, however, object to the fact that RT is, to all intents and purposes, meaningless to the general public as it was never promoted properly at birth so has no "branding" or recognition over say a French cheese on the supermarket shelf.
I also object to an ever greater power grab/job justification by RT with more & more compliances and of course they should have been reigned in BUT when the consultation response was so poor (Guilty M'lud), and the fact that it is Jobs for the Boys on the RT board, then perhaps we only have ourselves to blame.


And, as I said, some dairy farmers walked away from their supermarket aligned contracts because of ever tightening inspections and petty rules
 
I also object to an ever greater power grab/job justification by RT with more & more compliances and of course they should have been reigned in BUT when the consultation response was so poor (Guilty M'lud), and the fact that it is Jobs for the Boys on the RT board, then perhaps we only have ourselves to blame.
Just having a long needed clear out of some paperwork and found some glossy pamphlet from RT saying they had had 700 replies to the latest consultation on revised standards, 700 ain’t that many compared to the number of farmers involved..............and it didn’t say, I don’t know, who was entitled to reply to the consultation, was it just farmers?
 

DENNING

Member
Just having a long needed clear out of some paperwork and found some glossy pamphlet from RT saying they had had 700 replies to the latest consultation on revised standards, 700 ain’t that many compared to the number of farmers involved..............and it didn’t say, I don’t know, who was entitled to reply to the consultation, was it just farmers?
700 isn’t many at all. Makes you wonder where the incentive is to fundamentally change things when so many still pay (often through lack of choice) and so few can be bothered to reply to the consultations.

No good just hating the scheme, got to make voices heard, rather than hoping others do it for you.
 

texelburger

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Herefordshire
Nothing much in particular. Dropped out of beef and lamb assurance this week, but am keeping crops for my minuscule acreage as I have no choice other than to be assured. Its all goes to central store so is pretty straight forward.
I was looking at the individual livestock market reports and it looks like the number of non assured lambs going through is rising.
 
Last edited:

farmerm

Member
Location
Shropshire
I was looking at the individual livestock market reports and it looks like tge number of non assured lambs going through is rising.
I don't know how Bridgnorth Market compile their assured/none assured numbers? Either I am doing it there is no means to declare farm assurance status when booking sheep in and no farm assurance status is declared to the buyers at point of auction, at least not that I have seen or heard? Or this is some secret code I am not aware of??:scratchhead:
 

texelburger

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Herefordshire
I don't know how Bridgnorth Market compile their assured/none assured numbers? Either I am doing it there is no means to declare farm assurance status when booking sheep in and no farm assurance status is declared to the buyers at point of auction, at least not that I have seen or heard? Or this is some secret code I am not aware of??:scratchhead:
I've wondered this too.We have never been asked if we are assured or not in recent years.
 

texelburger

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Herefordshire
Think you’re very wrong there
OK maybe I am.I did ask the question, once,with regards beef and lamb and they said it was not a requirement.I have just remembered going through the Wife's shopping and I did find one item of RT and that was Mccains frozen chips.Would that be for Mccains or Sainsburys I wonder.
 
Sainsburys dont
Supermarkets will demand it or worse still have competing schemes with ever more ridiculous rules.naive to think anything else
Sainsbury’s may well have dropped RT but their dairy contracts have plenty of rules and regs to abide by, indeed they will be more rigorous than a standard RT inspection.
Quite a few other supermarkets have their own standard for dairy over and above RT, Tesco Coop and M&S off the top of my head, I’m sure there are others, I’m pretty sure lazy farmers buyer does too.

So certainly in the case of dairy, getting rid of RT is unlikely to be the end of inspections as I’m sure those buyers who currently only use RT standards would soon introduce their own
 

Jackov Altraids

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
That is very true. I have heard of some on aligned contracts actually surrendering them because of the hoops to go through and the quarterly checks

Could well be a case of being careful what you wish for

That was one of the main reasons given for creating RT and it has failed spectacularly.

For assurance schemes to work, there must be some market forces at play.
There isn't because RT has pursued compulsion rather than benefit for joining.
The rhetoric from RT is to continuously raise standards [adding time and cost].
Almost every retailer then wants to be seen to be better.
All additional costs are borne by the producers so there is absolutely no check or justification required for the continual introduction of new requirements.
Red tractor assurance has essentially driven down the price of higher standard produce.
Without RT, buyers would have to choose to pay more to get those standards met.
[Notwithstanding the control administered by contracts]
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top