Combinable Crops & Sugar Beet Sector Board Update

Dear Members

It was a privilege to chair my first in-person meeting of the Crops & Sugar Beet Sector Board. I began by paying tribute to Kit Papworth for his outstanding contribution to our sector and by thanking our outgoing CEO Jim Moseley for 50 years of service to food and farming as he retires. Both have given so much to Red Tractor and to the wider food industry.

I reflected on taking the Board out to a working farm to observe a mock Red Tractor assessment at Will Oliver’s Osbaston House Farm, near Nuneaton. This was an invaluable opportunity to see how our standards are applied in practice and to appreciate the experience from both the assessors’ and the growers’ perspective. The visit also provided a hands-on understanding of the Red Tractor member portal, reinforcing how digital tools support compliance and transparency. This practical insight will help inform our strategic decisions and ensure our standards remain robust, relevant and workable on the ground. Many thanks to Will for hosting a fantastic day, which helped representatives from across the supply chain step into each other’s shoes.

We have entered a period of significant change. The Farm Assurance Review (FAR) has set a demanding agenda for the Red Tractor Combinable Crops & Sugar Beet Sector Board and for everyone across the supply chain. I am committed to ensuring our responses are evidence-led, pragmatic and focused on protecting food safety, market access and the value we deliver to farmers.

Delivering improvements

The Farm Assurance Review (FAR) first monitoring report by David Llewellyn has now been published and we expect the final monitoring report April 2026. The FAR highlights the potential benefits of closer collaboration between assurance schemes. Red Tractor has engaged with other schemes and will continue to press for constructive, practical outcomes that improve value for farmers while maintaining robust standards.

Within our sector, we have established key workstreams for discussing and delivering potential improvements: segregation; audit cycle frequency; risk‑based assurance; and a comprehensive review of standards. These will form the foundation of our forthcoming Sector Strategy, a working document which outlines the priority areas for improvement in the sector, developed through collaboration with all Crop Sector Board members.

We also discussed both the HSE’s pesticide store inspections as well as the Environment Agency’s (EA) increasing number of on‑farm inspections. This has created confusion and frustration among members on the differences between EA inspections and Red Tractor assessments, which cover some but not all environmental legislation. I will seek further direct engagement with the EA and encourage colleagues across the supply chain to do the same so we can press for fair and consistent approaches in England.

Engaging with members

On communications, Red Tractor’s new “With you for 25 Years” consumer marketing campaign is now live. It is funded from licence fees rather than farmer royalties and uses a mix of channels and PR activity to raise awareness of Red Tractor and the value of buying British. We also continue to invest in farmer-facing communications: since April we have attended more than 60 farmer events, met over 1,000 farming stakeholders face‑to‑face, and appointed a new agricultural communication agency to boost our farming engagement.

I recognise that this is a time of uncertainty for many of you. Our guiding principles in this sector are clear: protect food safety, preserve market access and deliver demonstrable value to farmers. We will make decisions that are evidence-led, risk‑based and that put the interests of members at the centre. Please look out for the Sector Strategy when it is published and share your feedback — your input is essential.

Best Wishes,

Julian Sturdy

Red Tractor Combinable Crops & Sugar Beet Sector Chair