What does Red Tractor cost you in cash terms?

traineefarmer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Mid Norfolk
Costs us around £500/year. Do not have a problem with that. Not sure what all the moaning is about ? Far to much of that at the moment !!

I'd estimate our total cost to be at least 3 time that over 330 acres and 250 head of cattle. And up to this point I too haven't queried what that investment of time and money had gone toward - in fact I would heartily defend RT in some thread.

BUT. What the consultation has revealed is the direction that RT sees itself evolving toward in the future - an all encompassing policeman for all of UK agriculture. Unaccountable, unelected and with the power to close all markets to you AND cut off your subsidies via ELMS.

I'm not moaning, I'm absolutely FUDGEING FURIOUS that we have been blindly led down this path and that the "persons of influence" within RT are dismissing our concerns as "rhetoric" and "squabbling". A few weeks ago, I'd have been happy if the consultation had resulted in mild reform or just a freeze on the endless goldplating, but the condescending responses from the likes of Blenkiron and Smith have boiled my blood to the extent that I just want the whole sorry corrupt mess gone for good.
 

Formatted

Member
Livestock Farmer
How can a sprayer MOT be a cost you attribute to Red Tractor? I would hope you would get your sprayer MOT'd every year, regardless of RT because the cost of something going wrong is significant not only for your business but your neighbours and the environment
 

traineefarmer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Mid Norfolk
How can a sprayer MOT be a cost you attribute to Red Tractor? I would hope you would get your sprayer MOT'd every year, regardless of RT because the cost of something going wrong is significant not only for your business but your neighbours and the environment

Because the MOT is a joke anyway mostly involving tyre kicking. And legally it is every 3 year, but RT insist on it yearly.
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
How can a sprayer MOT be a cost you attribute to Red Tractor? I would hope you would get your sprayer MOT'd every year, regardless of RT because the cost of something going wrong is significant not only for your business but your neighbours and the environment

We go through it ourselves, just like i pull brake hubs off the trailers before harvest. Just because something isn;t tested offically doesn't mean some of us don't do it

Same with the spreader we calibrate that ourselves as its not exactly rocket science. I normally get my kids to do the maths for it as its a good little project for them
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
How can a sprayer MOT be a cost you attribute to Red Tractor? I would hope you would get your sprayer MOT'd every year, regardless of RT because the cost of something going wrong is significant not only for your business but your neighbours and the environment

An MOT is only a test on one day of the year. You'd hope that operators would make sure it is kept calibrated regularly - more than once each year. I'd say that spraying has become a lot more professional since the VI was introduced and that's a good thing for the industry and its image. Other than the policing the points and additional testing, RT don't add much value beyond that.

I calibrate my spreader every time I use it and make a note of it.its hardly rocket science
nick...

What about tray testing?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Is NRoSO really all a RT cost? I’m sure someone will set me straight but this wasn’t originally an assurance cost but part of the Voluntary Initiative? RT police it.

nroso is mandatory for ACCS RT

I would not bother with it or need it if not needing to pass red tractor, my operators learn nothing on the course they do or on treasure hunts at cereals !

they passed a test so are deemed qualified..... do we need to retake our driving test or keep having driving lessons all our lives ?
 
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Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
How can a sprayer MOT be a cost you attribute to Red Tractor? I would hope you would get your sprayer MOT'd every year, regardless of RT because the cost of something going wrong is significant not only for your business but your neighbours and the environment

i dont need a paid 3rd party to keep my sprayer in top conditioner so the mot is a RT cost

in scotland they only have to test every 3rd year btw ....... yet more inconsistencies

same applies to spreaders etc - perfectly capable of tip top maintenance in house but have to pay for testers
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Talking of Scotland, some of the government proposals for soil & manure management are already embedded in English RT standards. Examples include recording doses & muck heap sites.
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
As per the title really. This started elsewhere, so @Chris F thought this was a thread in itself, so here we go.

Based on the statement from Jim Moseley in the NFU meeting on Red Tractor that the average fee per farm is £50, what are the direct costs to you as farmers?

RT levies
CMI/SAI etc fees
What do you pay AHDB in levies, since they help fund RT too.
Hours/year filling in the paperwork - please deduct what you would normally do for legislation requirements as some of the RT standards are just rubber stamping something you ought to be doing anyway e.g. noting where muck heaps are in fields, NVZ compliance, NSTS testing every few years.

This is NOT a ranting thread - there have been plenty enough of those 🙂 Try and stick to the real world costs please. Cheers.

Edited to correct my poor English spelling & grammar.

Ok ...

RT levy .. dairy processor "pay" this on our behalf as it is a requirement of our supply contract with them. No doubt it is taken off the milk cheque somewhere
AHDB Levy .. around £300/month
£50 in paper and inkjet to download RT proformas and templates
Conservative 12 hours filling them in (plus another 5 hours ranting time). Senior manager (in my head) so £500/hr seems reasonable
Lost income hiding from inspector - another 2 hours
Missed time on TFF - priceless
 
Is NRoSO really all a RT cost? I’m sure someone will set me straight but this wasn’t originally an assurance cost but part of the Voluntary Initiative? RT police it.

It is in that RT ask for an annual inspection rather than the once every 3 year legal requirement. Good money for Sprayer dealers to turn up and check a sheet and charge £160+ for a sprayer that works fine
 
Farm EX yearly mem £365
RT Membership £375 inc royalty fee of £27.55
NRSO membership £20
Sprayer test £287
Spreader test £212
Pest control £970
NRSO course day £55
Moisture meter test £25
Plastic/spray can disposal £160

So £2469 excluding time spent filling forms, risk assessments etc etc etc What price you put on that I dont know.
Stress, how do you value that?
All for what????
The above were figures from last year for a 550ac all arable

You can't really complain about spray can disposal as thats a legal req.
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Is NRoSO really all a RT cost? I’m sure someone will set me straight but this wasn’t originally an assurance cost but part of the Voluntary Initiative? RT police it.
Yes it absolutely is. I didn't join NRoSO until it became ACCS/RT Mandatory. I even made the ACCS inspector watch me post our cheque to it, by putting it in our village letter/post box.

I didn't join NRoSO because it was part of VI therefore voluntary.
Voluntary implies choice, not compulsion.
Which further damns RT for making it so.
I chose not to want to join it.

For goodness sakes, I was legally well qualified to operate a sprayer before NRoSO came in.
Why do I have to belong to a so-called "voluntary" association to continue to do so?

In just the same way, it is like comparing the fact that I don't have to be a member of the NFU!


As regards the actual cash costs of RT, they pale into insignificance compared to the stress they cause.
It is a type of Coercive Control, which in certain circumstances under the law, is actually a criminal offence.

But, what pisses me off most of all is that all it has really done is to turn honest farmers into liars!
 
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nick...

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
south norfolk
An MOT is only a test on one day of the year. You'd hope that operators would make sure it is kept calibrated regularly - more than once each year. I'd say that spraying has become a lot more professional since the VI was introduced and that's a good thing for the industry and its image. Other than the policing the points and additional testing, RT don't add much value beyond that.



What about tray testing?
I do check that too laying containers in the fields and looking at the results
nick...
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
How can a sprayer MOT be a cost you attribute to Red Tractor? I would hope you would get your sprayer MOT'd every year, regardless of RT because the cost of something going wrong is significant not only for your business but your neighbours and the environment

Why you feel incapable of servicing / testing your sprayer I can't think. I attribute total cost to RT . Those with sprayers basically have a pump, a pressure gauge, some hoses and nozzles. So mine is mot'd by me every time I go spraying.
Check no leaks, up to pressure and nozzles ok. My twelve year old year old does that for me .
So please cut out this so called highly qualified MOT.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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

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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/
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