Red Tractor scheme gets a revamp

Farm assurance standards are to be revamped to ensure more consistency between six schemes behind the Red Tractor logo.

Following a major review, 45,000 producers across will begin to implement revised standards across farm sectors from April.

The six sectors affected are beef and lamb (Assured British Meats); dairy (Assured Dairy Farms); fresh produce (Assured Produce); combinable crops and sugar beet (Assured Combinable Crops Scheme), pigs (Assured British Pigs) and poultry (Assured Chicken Production).

Existing standards will be rebranded “Red Tractor Farm Assurance” to highlight the logo’s direct link with food items marketed under the Red Tractor logo. Assured Food Standards, the body behind the Red Tractor, will send out new manuals to help producers meet industry standards for their sector.

Meanwhile, details of the new harmonised standards can be viewed online at www.redtractor.org.uk/standards.

AFS chief executive David Clarke said promotion of assured food to consumers using the Red Tractor logo has an ever-increasing profile.

Having been launched a decade ago, the time was now right for all sector standards supporting the logo to include the same core values, he said.

“It is important for the future of the Red Tractor that we continue to evolve our farm standards and share our values right across the food chain.”

Red Tractor standards allowed producers to demonstrate to customers that they met nationally agreed levels of best practice, which were second to none, he added.

“Re-branding the schemes will link the farm logo with the consumer Red Tractor logo and help shoppers identify that the products they are buying are from a Red Tractor farm.”

More than £10 billion worth of products currently carry the Red Tractor quality assurance mark.

NFU President Peter Kendall said aligning farm standards would promote clearer messages about the high quality of British food production.

It is vital that food produced to high, independently inspected standards, was distinguishable in the market place by the Red Tractor logo.

“This is even more pertinent after the publication of the government’s food vision which is encouraging consumers to buy British.”

New manuals will start to arrive on farms over the coming weeks. The new standards will be effective for farm inspections from 1 April 2010.