Positive signals for Red Tractor scheme

The updated Red Tractor farm assurance scheme for crops and sugar beet is on the verge of being officially accepted EU-wide in time for this year’s harvest, the NFU said today.

The move is designed to help give crops and sugar beet producers a head start in the biofuels market while keeping the burden of new EU regulations to a minimum. It will mean that Red Tractor farm assurance will become the route for farmers to demonstrate they meet the new sustainability requirements for biofuel crops under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). 

The Red Tractor Crops and Sugar Beet Scheme submission to the EU Commission for recognised voluntary status has now entered the final stages of approval and follows months of hard work by the NFU and Red Tractor Assurance.

NFU crops adviser Ruth Digby said: "The scheme was first submitted more than eighteen months ago but a number of delays were encountered during the approval process. However, we are now getting positive signals that our hard work has paid off which would be welcome in time for this year’s harvest.

"We have always been supportive of the Red Tractor Crops and Sugar Beet scheme as the best route to ensure farmers are recognised for the sustainability of the farming which they already practice. In future the updated scheme, which has been designed to minimise the burden on farmers and removes the need for multiple audits by commercial companies on farm, will help to ensure UK crops remain accessible to all European markets."


Matthew Read, chairman of the Red Tractor Crops and Sugar Beet scheme, said: "We have great confidence in the quality of the Red Tractor Crops and Sugar Beet scheme which, as well as its food safety objectives, has at its heart environmental protection and traceability. Red Tractor standards are known and trusted in supply chains and we wanted to ensure this strength works to our members’ advantage. Through their membership farmers could retain access to the important European market place for their crops, without the need for additional audits and form filling for every company they trade with.

"Now we have entered the final stages of this long process we are hopeful the Red Tractor scheme will be granted full approval ahead of harvest 2012."