The UK farming unions have called for Red Tractor to scrap its plans to introduce the Greener Farms Commitment (GFC), that has caused a furore among farmers.
The unions, as well as the AHDB, said continuing with the GFC would be ‘extremely damaging to Red Tractor’s reputation’. They said Red Tractor should start from ‘first principles’ and work across the supply chain to develop future sustainability standards.
In a joint response to the report from consultants Campbell Tickell on Red Tractor’s governance, the unions said that although Red Tractor had followed the agreed governance process in developing the GFC, the process had fallen ‘well short of winning the consent of its farming members’. The Campbell Tickell report urged Red Tractor to improve its communications and ‘address stakeholder engagement and relations as a priority’.
The farming unions and AHDB call for Red Tractor to use the report’s recommendations to ‘rebuild trust with farming members’. “The farming unions and AHDB strongly recommend that the Greener Farms Commitment module development is discontinued,” they said.
“It is for the AFS Board to consider and agree in what form and when it should commission work on sustainability standards. We recommend that any development must evidently and transparently work with all constituencies across the food and farming supply chain, learning from the distinctions across UK agriculture and horticulture, and particularly sectors with clear demand.
“The UK Farming Unions and AHDB are very clear that the Greener Farms Commitment will be unable to command any level of support no matter what consultation is put in place. Resumption of work on the Greener Farms Commitment module would be extremely damaging to Red Tractor’s reputation.
“Instead, the AFS board needs to begin from first principles in ‘full consultation mode’ and once trust has been re-established, to offer the best basis for propelling action on these issues.”
The farming unions and AHDB request that the AFS Board ‘prioritises rebuilding trust and partnership with its farming constituency, listening to and engaging with farmers and growers’.
“We recognise our clear support for AFS and its programme is crucial, especially as many among our farming constituencies were vocally sceptical of the Greener Farms Commitment and, by extension, Red Tractor. Such opposition presents an existential threat to the business,” the statement says.