RED TRACTOR CHANGES

Red Tractor has released its final ‘version five’ changes to the Fresh Produce Scheme, due to take effect at inspections from 1 November.

The overhaul follows an industrywide consultation on all of the assurance organisation’s sector schemes earlier in the year, which attracted more than 3,000 individual pieces of feedback for its technical committees and boards to consider.

The NFU submitted a thorough, detailed response to the review – running to 90 pages in the horticulture sector and drawing on feedback from members at 75 meetings across the

NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board chair

country. It continued to represent farmers and growers through the committee process that followed.

NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board chair Ali Capper said: “We have continuously fed in a wide range of grower views and concerns, and NFU representatives have worked hard alongside Red Tractor and other stakeholders to have these views heard during the committees.

“During this process we have ensured that clarity and flexibility have been added into standards, to make sure they reflect day-to-day practicalities, and we have also had duplicated standards removed or condensed to reduce the audit burden.

“Although there have had to be compromises made on some of the

REVISED: Strengthened and upgraded approach to field/production site risk assessments to better manage risks from historic and adjacent activities.

NEW: Protected cropping section introduced, with content relevant to established protected growing environments (e.g. greenhouse) and new crop production systems (e.g. vertical farms).

REVISED: Strengthened and more consistent expectations for pesticide residue testing.

NEW: Record-keeping systems for the use of biological controls. standards, we will continue to work with Red Tractor to ensure that these will work for all involved.

“It is important that the requirements remain relevant to modern farming businesses and it will also be essential that they are audited consistently once implemented.”

In an across-the-board change, a new clause has been attached to each sector’s standards requiring all farms with workers to have a written health and safety policy.

At a press conference, Red Tractor Head of Operations Philippa Wiltshire said that this would not mean Red Tractor inspectors would be conducting health and safety audits, but that they were being trained to recognise any obvious shortcomings when visiting farms and would expect members to show them their policies.

Red Tractor CEO Jim Moseley also unveiled plans for optional ‘bolt-on’ modules, with further detail expected next year.

These will cover additional retailer requirements on worker welfare and sustainability, for example to help meet supermarkets’ net zero strategies.

Bolt-ons will be assessed at the same time as a main inspection and could prove a useful tool as new farm support schemes are developed, Mr Moseley said.

He added: “If we can develop a module, for example, that meets as many of the demands of the Sustainable Farming Incentive [SFI] as we can, then it might be possible for Red Tractor farmers to get earned recognition, so they won’t have to be separately assessed for the SFI.”

Lists of stored plant protection products (PPPs) must now be updated at least monthly and those who apply granular nematicides will need to meet updated standards to reflect changes in stewardship requirements, including a roll-out of free-to-access e-learning for staff carrying out applications.

Anyone making recommendations on PPP use must now be on the BASIS register and records must be kept when growers introduce biological controls.

Extra flexibility has been added that could allow grazing by sheep prior to growing some field crops, and the management of crop waste, formerly in the crop protocols, has now been incorporated into the core standards.

Risk assessments must be reviewed at least annually and, for all crops that may be consumed raw, that review process must be recorded. Red Tractor says that some of the most significant risks for growers are associated with historical, or adjacent, land use and has promised greater clarity on what should be included in this risk assessment, including preventative actions and frequent reviews.

A new standard requires farms to maintain a tidy appearance for the public. External areas should be kept clear, while scrap machinery, metal, disused tyres and rubbish must be well managed.

There is a strengthened review of return-to-work questionnaires for workers returning after ill-health absence, to manage contamination risks, and a new focus on tools and knives will see start-up checks extended to cover more equipment that could affect food safety. There are new standards to improve post-harvest washing.

The agreement between labour provider and farm is now defined as a service level agreement. It will cover additional requirements, based on best practice guidance, to ensure a clear allocation of responsibilities between provider and farm. Farms must have a trained first aider.

If pest control is managed in-house, the responsible person must have received certified training. The Red Tractor recommendation that precautionary measures are taken to discourage pests and vermin in crops and cropping areas has been upgraded to a full standard.

Red Tractor is setting a baseline of annual testing of pesticide residues for each crop, regardless of whether testing is by growers or their customers. Maximum nitrate levels to protect consumers that apply for certain crops are now part of the core standards and a new testing requirement will verify that growers are working within legal limits.

Expectations for the management of PPPs used as storage treatments have been updated and extended.

With investment in high-tech glasshouses and new production systems, Red Tractor has introduced standards to address emerging risks and to incorporate good practices. Workers must be trained against the staff hygiene policy, and cleaning programmes are needed where there is a contamination risk, with record keeping for the highest-risk crops.

The NFU says the assurance organisation should embed eight key principles into future standards to ensure they deliver value back to the farm gate and bolster ‘Brand Britain’.

• Continue to retain trust and support growth in domestic markets for British food. • Provide a platform for growth in the export market and ensure high-value British exports have robust assurance supporting traceability claims. • Retain a leading position on cost-effective assurance and protect members from inspection and regulatory duplication. Additional costs should be supported with a clear business case. • Challenge marketplace duplicity and buyer sourcing policies which undermine domestic standards. • Seek to add value through segmentation and market differentiation where there is a need to deliver different value propositions to different markets, without inflating or eroding the core standards. • Provide marketing choice for buyers. Scheme options, or bolt-ons, could provide access to new markets and more cost-effective, practicable alternatives for brands and members alike. • Provide a viable but discretionary alternative to new or increasing regulatory burden and deliver solutions in those areas susceptible to regulatory burdens. • Explore opportunities for inspections driven by outcomes and data, and where possible reduce the burden of inspection and add value back to farmers.