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Farmers will have to pay for follow-up, unannounced spot checks, where significant non-compliances are found at routine farm assurance inspections, under plans currently being rolled out by the Red Tractor scheme.
The local pig sector is already subject to the new risk-based inspection regime (from November 2018), with the dairy and poultry sectors to follow from 1 April 2019.
The plan is for a full roll-out of these checks by the end of 2019. That includes beef and lamb, although in NI the scheme is owned by the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC), and a final decision on how to implement the changes will be made locally.
At an event for pig producers organised by the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) held at Loughry campus this week, representatives from Red Tractor explained that the decision to implement risk-based inspections has been driven by increased scrutiny of the scheme.
That is coming from vegan groups, animal welfare campaigners and wider media looking to undermine the credibility of Red Tractor, and UK farming as a whole.
“Where Red Tractor credibility is questioned, your credibility as farmers is also questioned.
Farmers will have to pay for these spot checks. It is understood that for a pig farmer in NI the cost could be around £250 each time
"Our objective is to encourage poorer performers to improve, in order to protect everybody,” said Philippa Wiltshire from Red Tractor Food Standards.
She explained that routine inspections will continue as normal, but where non-compliances are found this could now trigger an unannounced inspection.
This inspection will focus on the areas of non-compliance. If improvements have not been made, a producer will be suspended from the scheme.
If a further spot check continues to show non-compliance, the farmer could find that they are permanently excluded.
The exact detail on what will and will not trigger an inspection is something that Red Tractor is not making public
Farmers will have to pay for these spot checks. It is understood that for a pig farmer in NI the cost could be around £250 each time.
Not all non-compliances will trigger a spot inspection. Where the issue is relatively minor it will be dealt with as present, with the farmer given 28 days to send in proof of compliance.
But if there are multiple non-compliances, or the non-compliance is deemed to be in an area where there is a high risk of reputational damage to the scheme (such as animal health or welfare), this will trigger an unannounced inspection.
The exact detail on what will and will not trigger an inspection is something that Red Tractor is not making public – it will be a decision made by them, not the organisation doing the inspection on its behalf.
Questionnaire
One question raised by farm lobby organisations has been what happens if an inspector turns up on a farm but the farmer is not present.
To get around this problem, a farmer who has triggered a follow-up inspection will be sent a questionnaire to establish normal activity on the farm and asked to provide contact details for up to three different people.
Advertising
To increase awareness of the standard among consumers, Red Tractor spent £1.5m on a TV ad campaign in late 2018.
Research done after it ended suggests that 41% of shoppers would now choose Red Tractor products first, up from 36%.
The organisation is keen to build on that, and according to Red Tractor pigs chair, Mike Sheldon, it could look to spend more on advertising (£3m to £4m) in the future. When asked if producers will have to pay through higher membership fees he responded: “Yes, it should be funded by those who benefit – we need to invest.”
He also claimed that the Red Tractor standard is among the highest farm standards anywhere in the world.
“Red Tractor has breadth (it covers a wide range of issues) – we can’t find anything in the world that compares with it.”
He believes it could become a key sales tool for industry exports after Brexit.
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