Schemes need greener image
Schemes need greener image
FARM assurance schemes, including those operating with the Little Red Tractor logo, may have to improve their green credentials, the NFU has admitted.
NFU vice-president, Michael Paske, acknowledged the schemes need to develop, particularly in the area of environmental standards. He told a Friends of the Earth fringe meeting that it was unrealistic to expect the public to make up the losses of the industry from the public purse. If farming was to be profitable, safe and sustainable, farmers would have to get the bulk of their returns from the market and that would mean meeting consumer demands.
"Farm assurance schemes, like the British Farm Standard, is part of that process. I acknowledge that those schemes do have to develop, particularly on the environmental side," said Mr Paske.
But he added: "Considerable work is already being done with organisations such as LEAF, the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds and English Nature to do exactly that." *