Red Tractor Week to celebrate great British food and farming

Farmers across the country will be talking to shoppers outside supermarkets this week to encourage them to buy British and look for the Red Tractor logo.

As part of Red Tractor Week (14-20 September), more than 100 farmers will be celebrating what they do at 20 promotional events at supermarkets in England, Scotland and Wales.

The aim of the seven-day campaign is to highlight the standards behind the scheme and encourage shoppers to buy Red Tractor-labelled food and back British farmers – at a time when so many are struggling with plummeting farmgate prices.

See also: 5 simple ways to support British dairy farmers

Farmers are also being encouraged to get involved through the social media campaign #trustthetractor by telling consumers what they do and why supporting Red Tractor is important.

Organisers of this year’s Red Tractor Week said it would be the biggest yet.

“By choosing food labelled with the Red Tractor, shoppers are showing their support for our hard-working farmers”
George Eustice, farm minister

The promotion involves on-pack stickers giving shoppers the chance to win a farm stay minibreak worth £350 (one a day for 49 days).

The promotion will run across all Red Tractor prepacked branded-goods, including meat and poultry, dairy, cereals and fresh produce – equating to millions of pounds worth of assured food.

Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Co-operative, Lidl and Aldi have already signed up to take part.

Red Tractor will use the promotion to raise awareness of the standards behind the assurance scheme.

Blur bass player, cheesemaker and Red Tractor brand ambassador Alex James will be appearing on TV and radio from Monday (14 September) to drum up awareness of the on-pack promotion and the start of Red Tractor Week.

Farm minister George Eustice has pledged his support for the campaign.

“The Red Tractor label helps shoppers have confidence that the produce they are buying has been grown to British standards,” said the minister.

“British food has a global reputation for quality, traceability and great taste – our food and farming industry is worth over £100bn and employs one in eight people.

“By choosing food labelled with the Red Tractor, shoppers are showing their support for our hard-working farmers.”

There are about 80,000 farmers and growers in the UK committed to the aims of the Red Tractor scheme.

The logo appears on £12bn of food and drink each year and is supported by 96% of farmers.