At my first Red Tractor Board meeting as interim chair I confirmed my commitment to the role and advised the Board that I’d taken the difficult decision to step down as an NFU council member to make sure that there is no perceived conflict of interest.
I made it clear that my first priority is to rebuild relationships with our farmers, growers and processors. I had already attended very useful meetings at the Balmoral Show in May as Vice Chair but have since stepped up this activity: agricultural shows are great places to meet farmers, their representatives, and processors from across the four nations. The result is we also had helpful discussions at the Cereals Event and Royal Highland Show in June, and at the Royal Welsh and National Sheep Event following the Board meeting. I am pleased some of my fellow Directors joined the team at these and that all support my aim to achieve more collaboration across all stakeholders.
Improving farmer engagement
A key focus of the Board meeting was communications, and understanding and improving engagement with farmers and growers was a major discussion point. In line with the Campbell Tickell review, we are working with an external specialist to identify how and where we need to improve our communications. She presented plans for improving transparency and accountability around Red Tractor’s activities, including increasing communication of our work in the areas our members care most about: the value gained from being Red Tractor producers, and how audits are being streamlined and improved – more on that in a moment.
The Board acknowledges the importance of fostering trust. To this end, many sector chairs, along with myself and the Red Tractor team, will be attending industry and farmer meetings this autumn.
Returning to audits, I recognise this is a critical issue in our relationship with farmers and growers. I’m pleased to let you know that at the meeting, the Board received a comprehensive report on the future of Red Tractor Assurance. We have 79 independent farmers, processors, vets and food chain specialists on our sector boards, and they have been working hard in recent months to develop extremely ambitious proposals.
While there are existing plans to increase transparency around why different standards are included, and strip out all unnecessary or duplicated standards and audit points as we did in the Beef, Lamb and Dairy Sectors last year, these ideas go a lot further. They include significantly improving farmer and assessor experience of the portal, to more radical changes such as using data and technology to move away from traditional assessments, and even reducing visit frequency where there’s evidence of good compliance.
Open to change
The Board was struck by how open the sector boards had been to deep-seated, longer term change, which gives us an excellent start to developing a longer 5 -10 year strategy. The Board has asked the Red Tractor team to turn these ideas into specific proposals, particularly those for the short term, for the next meeting. We continue to work with Sector Boards and will keep you updated on progress in this area, as we know it’s really important to our members.
NFU and AHDB representatives reported on progress in the Review of Farm Assurance, and the Board confirmed its full support to engage with the Commissioners and share the recent work from the sector boards and Red Tractor team, mentioned above.
Independent Director Chris Goodwin, chairman of our Audit and Finance Committee, reported the results of the annual audit and end of year accounts. Red Tractor is a not-for-profit company, and as its Directors, we take our responsibilities seriously in ensuring the company is financially sound and uses its money responsibly for the benefit of those in the Red Tractor supply chain.
Independent Director Chris Goodwin, chairman of our Audit and Finance Committee, reported the results of the annual audit and end of year accounts. Red Tractor is a not-for-profit company, and as its Directors, we take our responsibilities seriously in ensuring the company is financially sound and uses its money responsibly for the benefit of those in the Red Tractor supply chain.
Finally, the new Governance Handbook which is being developed in light of the Campbell Tickell Governance Review was discussed, and is almost completed.
I know it’s a busy time for many of you, so I wish you a successful harvest. We’ll keep you updated as we move forward together.
Best wishes, Alistair Mackintosh, Red Tractor Interim Chair
Red Tractor Board members:
David Exwood – Industry Director
Will Jackson – AHDB
Dean Holroyd – Industry Director
Sophie Throup – Industry Director
John Pain – Independent Director
Chris Goodwin – Independent Director
James Russell – Independent Director
Professor Guy Poppy – Independent Director
John Reed – Industry Director
John Dracup – Beef & Lamb Sector Director
Tim Lock – Dairy Sector Director
Lucy MacLennan – Fresh Produce Sector Director
Stewart Houston CBE, FRAgS – Pig Sector Director
Iain Gardner – Poultry Sector Director
Kit Papworth – Combinable Crops and Sugar Beet Sector Director
Jim Moseley – Chief Executive
Our priority focus continues on improving the experience farmers have during audits, and making standards easier to understand and more transparent.
