Who is in favour of an E passport for grain?

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Think we've been through all this before

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/grain-passports.126572/#post-2680922

 

[48492]

Surely this gives the industry more transparency. The farmer and the merchant will have the quality info, net weight and any possible claim information as soon as the load has arrived at its destination?

Furthermore if you have had numerous loads depart on the same day you have instant feedback on arrival and much less handwriting to do....

 

[48492]

Interesting article on the E-Passport

https://www.farminguk.com/News/Industry-fails-to-agree-on-roll-out-of-eGrain-passport_45967.html

 

[Chrisw]

and as expected..... it would have been funded by grain and oilseeds levies..... I.e the farmers!!!
How about those who are asking for these passports pay the cost?? mills, hauliers and end users!
I am glad that agreement wasn't achieved, and hope it doesn't get agreement, certainly not before other parts of the chain agree to pick up the cost!

 

[Condi]

What a backward industry we work in...

In reference to the comment above, millers and merchants are all levy payers as well and thus the cost would be shared by everyone. No levy increase was proposed to pay for it, and farmers pay a levy anyway - so there is no additional cost to anyone.

At what point is farming going to accept the future, if it fails to do so it'll just get left in the past.

 

[Farmer Miggins]

I wonder what the sticking point was?

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

It's a bit of a non-article.

Where is the detail over the disagreement?

Was it the operational details or the cost?

 

[Farmer Miggins]

https://cereals.ahdb.org.uk/press/2017/march/22/lack-of-agreement-on-egrain-passport-rollout.aspx
Main article but still no detail, obviously so as not to upset anyone in case they can get it going again

 

[Chrisw]

I am sorry condi, but it is not backward to be happy with the current set up. Not all farms have internet or broadband, going electronic doesn't provide any benefit to small farmers, except more cost if computers internet etc needs upgrading. It seems to me that this would be another step in forcing growers to be assured, when originally it was claimed to be voluntary and by being assured it would bring a bonus. Now it seems to be more mandatory with a penalty for not being assured as opposed to a bonus for being assured.
As I have said before, costs of being assured, for me, out weigh the price reduction for selling non assured, and going non assured is becoming more attractive by the day.

 

[franklin]

I hope we will be able to see all the E-passports of loads of grain tipped into silos and lorries in Ukraine before they get to the UK. And similarly, the E-passports of all the soya and OSR from overseas arriving at ports, so we can, you know, check they are not using GM seeds, or flaungting the Renewable Energy Directive.

So long as its one rule for us, and another for someone else, I am completely against.

 

[Condi]

You can't sell UK produce on quality and traceability if you're not willing to invest in the technology and processes to make that happen.

On the one hand you expect the British housewife to pay more for UK produce and yet want to produce it at the same standard as everyone else.

I feel ill have more success banging my head repeatedly against a wall than trying to bring logic to this place at times.

 

[fudge]

What actually is the purpose of a paper passport? I don't understand the need for it. Why not put the sticker on the hauliers ticket?

 

[Chrisw]

Sorry Condi, why should the housewife pay more for british produce, when producers get world price (especially for grain).
When theres a shortage mills couldn't care less if its assured or not, they just want any product, which strengthens the argument that it is more a plus point than essential.
Legal requirements on record keeping, licences, etc already take care of production safety, the passport is more about traceability once it is in the supply chain. The costs are fine if you are producing 1000's of tons, not so if you produce under 300t.
Local markets to me regularly have non assured lambs fetching the same or more than assured lambs, most importantly they are selling without any issues, but then the livestock chain is less wrapped up than the grain supply chain

 

[Farmer Miggins]

What actually is the purpose of a paper passport? I don't understand the need for it. Why not put the sticker on the hauliers ticket?

The original purpose was YOU making a declaration that there had/had not been storage pesticide applied to the bulk of grain when on your premises to avoid re-application and possible over dosing of pesticide further down the chain. Putting a sticker on the hauliers docket does not allow this.

 

[Hampton]

As someone who sells about 30 loads of grain per year, I can happily say that writing the grain passport is not an onerous task to me. In fact, if I was organised enough to sit down and write fifty passports at the start of the year, then date them when the lorry arrived, I think the whole process would take me about ten minutes

 

[Steevo]

You can't sell UK produce on quality and traceability if you're not willing to invest in the technology and processes to make that happen.

On the one hand you expect the British housewife to pay more for UK produce and yet want to produce it at the same standard as everyone else.

I feel ill have more success banging my head repeatedly against a wall than trying to bring logic to this place at times.

I think it's pretty obvious that UK cereal farmers don't produce it to the same standard as the other global producers.

It would be fascinating if the NFU created a poster of what makes UK wheat (and other produce!) different from other countries. The big one that stands out for me is the number of pesticides allowed elsewhere in the world that are lost to us UK growers.

 

[Steevo]

As someone who sells about 30 loads of grain per year, I can happily say that writing the grain passport is not an onerous task to me. In fact, if I was organised enough to sit down and write fifty passports at the start of the year, then date them when the lorry arrived, I think the whole process would take me about ten minutes

What stops a merchant emailing you a passport pre-populated with the details of the load when you sell it? I get purchase confirmations in the post from merchants I deal with.

After all, they know the variety, spec, name, address, haulier etc etc. That way it's even quicker - print, tick a couple of boxes specific to that load and then sign.

Currently the following fields could be completed far in advance;

Business Name
Collection Address
Crop Type
Variety
Loading Date
Harvest Year
Haulier Name

Leaving for the farmer
Post-harvest treatment
Mycotoxin
Sign/Print


and the driver:
Vehicle Reg
Trailer No.
Vehicle Hygiene
Sign/Print

 

[An Gof]

What a backward industry we work in...

In reference to the comment above, millers and merchants are all levy payers as well and thus the cost would be shared by everyone. No levy increase was proposed to pay for it, and farmers pay a levy anyway - so there is no additional cost to anyone.

At what point is farming going to accept the future, if it fails to do so it'll just get left in the past.

83% of AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds levy income is derived from producers. Only 17% is from millers, maltsters, processors etc.

 

[Adeptandy]

What stops a merchant emailing you a passport pre-populated with the details of the load when you sell it? I get purchase confirmations in the post from merchants I deal with.

After all, they know the variety, spec, name, address, haulier etc etc. That way it's even quicker - print, tick a couple of boxes specific to that load and then sign.

Currently the following fields could be completed far in advance;

Business Name
Collection Address
Crop Type
Variety
Loading Date
Harvest Year
Haulier Name

Leaving for the farmer
Post-harvest treatment
Mycotoxin
Sign/Print


and the driver:
Vehicle Reg
Trailer No.
Vehicle Hygiene
Sign/Print

Merchant does the don test, so they could even fill that in for me

 

[JJT]

i dont have any internet connection at our grain store. What happens then?