Farmers’ faith in assurance schemes has been rocked in recent times, but as Michael Barker hears, Red Tractor is committed to improving relations
You know something seismic must have happened when farm assurance bodies are making the news. A vital part of the food production process, but one that usually operates behind the scenes, the sector has been thrust into the spotlight in the past year thanks to a series of spats between assurance bodies and farmers over a perceived lack of collaborative working.
In arguably the most high-profile example, Red Tractor announced last October that it had developed a voluntary Greener Farms Commitment (GFC) module, to be launched from 1 April 2024, but within days the NFU had hit out at what it said was a lack of consultation with farmers during the development process. As the row escalated, Red Tractor put the module’s rollout on hold, before eventually axing it completely.
That wasn’t enough to placate farmer representatives, however, with the NFU commissioning an independent review from consultants Campbell Tickell into the governance of Red Tractor, and also joining forces with AHDB and the devolved nations’ farming unions to commission a further deep dive into the future of assurance schemes in general. Campbell Tickell’s report, while finding no procedural breach by Red Tractor in introducing GFC, made a series of recommendations around improving clarity and communication with farmer members, which the Red Tractor board has pledged to implement.
Improving communication
Philippa Wiltshire is head of operations at Red Tractor and took time out to talk to Poultry Business about the fallout of recent events, and how the assurance body hopes the poultry sector will benefit from new ideas and closer collaboration in future. Wiltshire says that from farmers’ point of view, the most important lessons Red Tractor has learnt is that it needs to work in partnership and engage more with individual sectors, as well as improve communication with members.
In practice, that means putting more emphasis on the role of the sector boards. The structure of Red Tractor sees an overarching board of directors made up of stakeholders from across the whole supply chain – with all products except fish and eggs covered – and below that a series of sector boards who provide more sector-specific advice. The poultry board, Wiltshire explains, has 11 members, made up of farmer and processor representatives, alongside expertise from the retail and foodservice sector. Duck and turkey are represented, as well as chicken.
One of the developments introduced this year as part of the new transparency drive sees a report from the sector chair after each sector board meeting, posted on the Red Tractor website to show what topics are up for discussion. “It’s very much about working with the sector to understand how Red Tractor can support and add value and help them with their challenges,” she says. “A key area we are looking at is audit efficiency, and that’s an area that is actually very exciting. Over the last two weeks we’ve had all our sector boards [meeting]. That’s been 79 stakeholders having an input in a workshop style around the future of assurance. How can we balance being fit for the future in terms of audit efficiency, reducing the audit burden, but also continuing to provide robust compliance and reassurance for the consumer that standards are being met?”
The theme of collaborative working is one that Wiltshire is keen to emphasise throughout, and it’s clear that there’s a deliberate move by Red Tractor to highlight its willingness to engage with and listen to the views of farmers, alongside talking to retail and foodservice customers and recognising what consumers want.
With the GFC axed, it leaves Red Tractor in a sensitive position about how to cover sustainability – an area that is of huge significance and only likely to become more so. It’s clear though, that having had its fingers burnt with the GFC debacle, Red Tractor is very much in listening mode when it comes to how to proceed with this topic. “It [sustainability] is an area that is at the forefront of consumers’ and customers’ and the industry’s mind,” Wiltshire says, “but in terms of the role that Red Tractor will play on that going forward, we’ve said we’re ready to help and support the sectors as they feel fit. So we’ll take the lead from the sector through the reps on our board as to what role we should play.”
Initiatives in poultry
In poultry specifically, Wiltshire believes the modular structure works well, with core, free-range and enhanced welfare standards allowing farmers to meet the requirements of different consumers. Some 76% of Red Tractor poultry members are certified to the core standard, with 18% free range and 6% enhanced welfare (noting that free range and enhanced welfare can also be labelled as core, and the enhanced welfare figure is for member numbers, not volume of product). “So it’s about segmenting and providing that so that the farmer has audit efficiency,” she says.
Wiltshire says there are “lots of really great ideas from the sector” involving the role of data and technology, and she’s keen to emphasise that could be a way of reducing the audit burden as the industry looks for ways to minimise the need for human inspectors to be constantly visiting sites. “The whole point of audits is to verify compliance,” she explains. “There is a lot of information in data that can give you an indication of the compliance at a farm. So a number of the ideas that we’re looking at are whether you can use outcome-type data measures to give you an indication of compliance. But it’s also about technology – the standards tend to be a mixture of paperwork and records and policies, as well as physically what’s happening on the farm. So using our portal system, it’s a mechanism of being able to do all of that remotely, in terms of looking at the paperwork and policies, so that the physical audit and checking of the birds can be done more efficiently. It’s reducing the time burden on farm, but also being very mindful of biosecurity and reducing the risk of disease spread.”
A pilot for the portal concept was recently run in the duck sector with Gressingham, with the idea being that the portal could be adapted to each particular sector to provide the maximum audit efficiency.
In another poultry-specific initiative, Red Tractor is working with producers in the Wye Valley, where agricultural pollution of the river has made national headlines. The pilot is focused on trying to collect more information and understand what’s going on, and how the role of standards and audits fits in with that. “So we’ve spent some time developing draft standards and as we speak now those audit visits are happening, and that’s all about making sure that everything applied to the land is done responsibly,” Wiltshire says. “And it’s not just poultry litter, it’s everything that’s applied to the land, but it’s on farms where poultry litter is being used. And then we will bring that information back and share it with the sector board to see if there is a role to play for Red Tractor. It’s very much a partnership approach with the industry.”
Background in turkey
Wiltshire has more than a professional interest in ensuring the poultry sector is in rude health. Back in the 1960s, her grandfather set up British United Turkeys, which is now part of Aviagen, and she was brought up on a breeder layer turkey farm. “Both my sets of grandparents were very involved in farming, and my father was a turkey farmer,” she recalls.
Despite wanting a career that revolved around agriculture, Wiltshire was never tempted to farm herself, and instead has built a career around farm assurance. Starting out as British cereal exports manager at the Home Grown Cereals Authority, she moved on to become chief executive of Farm Assured British Beef & Lamb (FABBL) in 1998 before ultimately starting her career at Red Tractor. “I’m involved across all sectors now with Red Tractor and it can be challenging but very rewarding at the same time,” she says.
It’s fair to say the organisation has come a long way since. “When Ben Gill and Tony Blair launched the Red Tractor logo I think there was quite a lot of scepticism around why would all the different customers use the same logo?” she recounts. “At that point, consumer trust in British food was at an all-time low, and now consumers trust British food more than they trust anything else. I think Red Tractor has had a really important role to play in that.”
Consumer trust may remain unbroken, but there’s no doubt the events of recent months have shaken trust among Red Tractor’s farmer members. The organisation will hope that the olive branch it has extended since, and the moves it is making to repair and improve relations, will usher in a new era of more collaborative working.
The big topics facing the Red Tractor Poultry Board
As part of Red Tractor’s new transparency drive, sector chairs have been providing reports on the focus of their activities.
Updating members on the spring 2024 poultry sector board meeting in May, poultry sector director Iain Gardner said the board agreed that further discussions were needed with businesses to identify ways of ensuring vital updates and information is shared correctly at all levels.
The board thoroughly scrutinised the Campbell Tickell recommendations, Gardner noted, “ensuring that our actions align with the best interests of our sector and uphold our standards”.
On the topic of the Greener Farms Commitment, Gardner explained that Red Tractor will now only introduce new environmental standards when asked for by industry, and on a sector-by-sector basis. “This tailored approach could allow us to address specific challenges and opportunities within the poultry sector, if required, to promote sustainability practices that are both pragmatic and impactful,” he added.
The board also discussed the harm Defra’s ‘Fairer Food Labelling’ proposals would inflict on UK poultry businesses, and agreed that a working group of appropriate stakeholders should review the Catching & Transport standards to ensure they are fit for purpose and keep pace with farm standards. Red Tractor’s Wye Valley poultry pilot was also on the agenda.
In addition to Gardner, Red Tractor’s Poultry Board members are Clay Burrows (QBT), James Mottershead (NFU), Gavin Foster (BPC), Philip Wilkinson (BPC), David Neilson (Integrator), Tom Meeson (BRC), Natalie Smith (Retailer), David Gibson (BPC), Jonty Hay (NFU) and Judith Irons (TAC chair).