Background to our assessors
Red Tractor works with four Certification Bodies (CBs) to carry out assessments on our behalf. As part of their contract, each CB is required to have enough qualified staff to complete the necessary work. These staff may be directly employed by the CB or engaged as individual subcontractors.
Assessors play a key role in the Red Tractor certification process. They are responsible for carrying out on-site and remote audits across a variety of agricultural and horticultural businesses, often working one-to-one or with small groups.
Skills and requirements
A farm assessor must demonstrate the following skills:
- Ability to conduct on-farm audits, against a comprehensive set of standards, covering areas such as animal welfare, food safety, traceability and environmental protection.
- Summarise and evaluate audit findings, and submit reports in a timely manner
- Communicate findings and results of audits with client site management or appropriate client representatives
- Establish and maintain effective communication with key team members, including audit delivery and client teams
- Manage your own calendar to schedule and book assessment in
- Have general IT skills
- Have an interest in agriculture and/or horticulture
- Hold a valid driver’s license
Qualifications & training
All Red Tractor assessors must hold the following qualification/experience:
- NVQ Level 3 or higher in an Agricultural/Horticultural related subject
- Industry lead training requirements e.g. BASIS classroom
- Scheme specific training via Red Tractor on-line academy
- Practical industry experience
- Continuous Professional Development training in relation to standard changes/industry needs
Assessor onboarding process
To ensure high service levels and consistent audits, new assessors complete a structured training programme via several routes. This includes assessor training academies, recognised industry courses such as the Register of Mobility Scorers,
plus a series of shadow and witnessed audits.
Assessors are only approved to work independently once they have successfully completed this process.
This approach gives scheme members confidence that, regardless of the farm situation, assessors apply the standards consistently.
Red Tractor also requires Certification Bodies to carry out ongoing observation of assessors and respond to feedback from these and other sources to ensure consistency is maintained.
It’s important to note that not everyone who starts the training process goes on to become an assessor, some choose to withdraw or are not able to meet the required standards.
| RECRUITMENT: CHECKS UNDERTAKEN Qualifications | Experience | Competencies | ||||||
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| Registration on the Red Tractor Academy for relevant scheme/s. Any additional training requirements for the scheme being assessed such as Registered of Mobility Scoring (RoMS) training course for dairy assessors | SHADOW ASSESSMENTS: Trainee assessors must shadow qualified assessors on a number of RT assessments for the sectors they are training in | At least 1 shadow assessment | UPSKILLING | |||
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| WITNESS ASSESSMENTS: Trainee assessors must lead assessments for the sectors in which they are to operate in under the scrutiny of a qualified assessor | At least 2 witness assessments | |||||
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| SIGN OFF ASSESSMENT: When a trainee assessor has reached an acceptable level of competence a final witness is undertaken with a different assessor to ensure consistency of delivery | 1 sign off assessment | |||||
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| SIGNED OFF TO COMPLETE RED TRACTOR ASSURANCE SCHEME/S | ||||||
Onboarding statistics
| Jun 2024 – Jun 2025 | Number of new assessors and certification staff registered | 45 |
| Number withdrawn from the onboarding process | 10 | |
| Signed off for at least one Red Tractor scheme | 14 | |
| Currently onboarding | 21 |
Assessor background & training
