Dear Member,
It has been an honour to chair the Fresh Produce Sector Board, and I want to begin by thanking everyone for their professionalism and commitment since I joined Red Tractor in 2018. It’s been my privilege to be part of the Red Tractor team.
I’m very pleased to welcome Veryan Bliss as my successor. She will make an excellent Chair for Fresh Produce. We are also planning board changes following Damon Johnson’s departure as the BRC representative and Sarah Blanford’s move from Sainsbury’s. We will confirm arrangements for those roles as part of the next meeting update.
We’ve had a mixed season across the sector, with high yields and quality in some crops and challenging conditions in other, mainly driven by the lack of rainfall, and there are many encouraging technical developments across the sector. We recognise real pressures for the industry; labour availability and cost, pest and disease pressures and variable regional conditions that mean conditions remain tough for many growers.
Our sector is responding to these challenges with innovation. The Board discussed developments in robotics, which are showing real promise as a solution to long‑term labour shortages and for improving productivity, and incoming legislation around Precision Bred Organisms (PBOs). We must make sure our standards are ready for these technologies and that any potential food safety risks are addressed in design and guidance.
On standards and strategy, Red Tractor has been engaging with other assurance schemes and stakeholders, and we will keep pushing for practical outcomes that protect food safety and market access while seeking better value for growers. Our sector strategy will be a live document, reviewed annually to track progress, and we agreed to frame the strategy around farm‑based activities to reflect the breadth of our work.
A key technical priority is enhancing food safety in leafy salads. Chaired by Barbara Bray MBE, the Technical Advisory Committee is working on a proposed food safety module for leafy salad growers, which we expect to pilot in 2026. We are also developing a more streamlined assessment approach (which will initially be trialled with vining pea growers) by assessing common documents at a Producer Organisation level rather than on every individual farm – a change intended to reduce duplication, streamline assessments, and ensure the day on-farm is more focused on practical application of standards.
Communications remain central to what we do. Our “With you for 25 Years” consumer campaign is live and designed to reinforce the value of the Red Tractor logo at shelf and online. We also continue to invest in farmer‑facing communications: since April we have attended more than 60 farmer events and engaged over 1,000 stakeholders face‑to‑face, and we have appointed Pinstone as our farmer‑facing agency to help demonstrate value to growers and rebuild trust.
Finally, thank you again for your engagement and constructive challenge. As the sector evolves we will keep food safety as our core priority while ensuring our standards and programmes support innovation, protect market access and demonstrate clear value to growers. I encourage you to continue sharing your experience and feedback – it directly shapes the work we take forward.
Best Wishes,
Lucy MacLennan
Chair, Red Tractor Fresh Produce Sector Board
Red Tractor Fresh Produce Board:
- Sarah Blanford – Retailer
- Veryan Bliss – Technical Consultant
- Tim Casey – Grower and NFU
- Jan Redpath – Grower and NFUS
- Damon Johnson – Retailer, BRC
- James Lee – Agronomist
- Phil Pearson – Grower
- Kelly Shields – Fresh Produce Consortium
- Stephen Shields – Grower and NFU
- Barbara Bray MBE – Independent Consultant
- Andrew McHardy – Retailer
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