GROWERS DISMAYED AT THE UNLEVEL PLAYING FIELD OF GRAIN Written By Steve Ridsdale Combinable crop direct drillers have found ways to cut establishment costs, whilst at the same time aiming to increase the resilience and productive capacity of their soils. At the other end of the production cycle, comes our output in the form of crop sales. We want to be competitive producers and competitive sellers.
Combinable crop direct drillers have found ways to cut establishment costs, whilst at the same time aiming to increase the resilience and productive capacity of their soils. At the other end of the production cycle, comes our output in the form of crop sales. We want to be competitive producers and competitive sellers. What would you think, if I told you it was easier for competitor imports to access our UK markets than it is for ourselves. That would be crazy, wouldn't it? Well, that's the exact situation we find ourselves in. Let me explain... Most animal feed mills are members of an assurance scheme. It's called the Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS), and it's administered by the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC). Imported combinable crops are not required by the AIC to have any farm level audited assurance when supplying to a UFAS accredited animal feed mill. This contrasts with AIC's insistence that UK and Eire growers adhere to farm level assurance protocols such as Red Tractor (RT) or Scottish Quality Crops
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(SQC), and so UK growers consequently face an extra layer of burden and cost to access their own home markets. It makes us less competitive in the marketplace.
How Do These Imports Become Assured? These imports are used to feed RT assured livestock, so presumably RT and AIC are content with the imported grain safety, and consider it to be in no way harmful, or a food safety issue to our farmed livestock. AIC welcome these imports into the feed chain by virtue of either pesticide residue testing, or a pesticide declaration confirming grains were only grown using EU licensed pesticides. The notable difference is that AIC have NO requirement for these imports to have any farm level assurance at all. Think about that when you're next paying your RT assurance invoice, writing down when you cleaned your grain bucket, or writing down the exact time and date you put some rat poison down. These imports, having been grown in countries where growers have
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access to pesticides not licensed in the UK, pesticide testing is a reasonable safety check to undertake. One might, however, question the usefulness of sampling grain after it has been blended at central storage and then onboarded to a boat.
What Could An Equivalent System Of Assuring Grain Look Like For UK Producers? Turning our attention to home grown grain, we only have access to UK approved pesticides, so it follows that pesticide residue testing is unnecessary, and that the pesticide declaration method is more appropriate. Domestic legislation requires crop sprayers to be NSTS tested, and operators must have PA1/2 certificates of competence. Local authorities check we are compliant in having written HACCP procedural records for grain drying and storage, and are also at liberty to inspect our pesticide records. These legislative requirements provide a risk based assurance that UK grain has a safe pesticide adherence. Government are content with this high standard of legislative framework and the food
Machine Key Features: Electronic rate control Trailed, Mounted, Drill or Roll options 200L, 400L & 1200L hoppers High capacity hydraulic fan 0.5m nozzle spacings (no drift) Metering unit designed for Avadex Also apply OSR or slug pellets ISSUE 15 | OCTOBER 2021
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