Brown to meet FFA over logo
15 June 2000
Brown to meet FFA over logo
By Alistair Driver
FARM minister Nick Brown has promised to meet representatives of grassroots farm protest group Farmers For Action.
The minister spoke to the handful of FFA members after he had helped launch the National Farmers Unions tractor logo at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on Tuesday (13 June).
They had gathered to protest at the launch of the logo, which they claimed could be used on foreign food.
They also said it would sideline some small farmers and abattoirs who cannot afford to join the farm assurance schemes associated with the logo.
Mr Brown told FFA chairman Dave Handley that he would meet the group to discuss this issue and other farming matters if they contacted his office.
NFU president Ben Gill hit back at the protestors, calling for the farming industry to stop squabbling and unite behind the logo.
He said supermarkets using the logo have told him they will
FFA denied that it was trying to undermine the logo to get at the NFU but said it is causing “total and utter confusion”.
“We support the principle of a British food standard. The problem is consumers are being told it refers to British food,” said Mr Handley.