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“FROM SIMPLE BEGINNINGS”
STANDARDS
REVEALED Revised Red Tractor standards have been revealed after a consultation the food assurance scheme says involved more than 3,000 pieces of feedback. The organisation this year opened the process to its 46,000 members and the entire food supply chain, describing it as “the biggest and most transparent consultation ever”. Red Tractor’s CEO Jim Moseley said: “Our standards need to achieve two key objectives – first to meet the needs of consumers who expect high standards but shop keenly on price, and second to provide farmers and the supply chain with manageable standards. Getting that balance right then also satisfies the needs of food businesses and government.” South East Farmer asked frontline farmers in some of the affected sectors what they thought of some of the more significant changes…
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• REMOVED A requirement to leave livestock buildings for five weeks between cleaning them and using them to store grain. • NEW All farms with workers must have a written Health and Safety policy; this is a slight advance on the legal baseline which only applies to businesses with more than five employees (this change also relates to other sectors below). • REVISED Many of the requirements of vermin control standards align with the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) Code of Practice which aims to minimise the exposure of wildlife to toxic rodenticides. It means Red Tractor members can continue to buy rodenticide they would otherwise be prohibited from purchasing without additional training. • CLARIFIED Moisture meter calibration can be carried out on farm using reference samples. Charlie Edgley, whose family business is based at Kensham Farms, High Wycombe, is, on balance, a fan of the Red Tractor scheme. “Most of their standards are pretty good though some can be tedious. These changes seem sensible to me, though,” he commented. “The first doesn’t apply to us, but it makes sense. If you are going to get any contamination it will be for putting grain into a building previously used for livestock. “Making the health and safety focus relate to all farms has to be a good thing, but there is more we should be doing on health and safety as farming remains very dangerous. We pay the NFU Mutual a lot of money for our policy and they do a good job, but we end up with a lever-arch file holding a three-inch stack of paperwork. What farms really need is a simplified, cut-down version of that policy that all staff should have with them at all times.. “I also think the industry needs to think about third party accreditation. It’s easy to insist on a health and safety policy but someone needs to check it is fit for purpose. “Any change that makes sure people use rodenticides carefully and stops them spreading to other wild animals has to be welcomed. Although we have two members of staff qualified in pest control, we are moving more and more towards trapping rather than poisoning as we find it is a much safer approach. “Allowing moisture meter calibration on farm will no doubt be welcomed by many farmers, but personally I enjoy the opportunity to take my equipment to a clinic and meet and chat to other farmers. I also like having a certificate from an external body.”
