Red Tactor had a good couple of days at this year’s Pig & Poultry Fair, catching up with farmers, partners and stakeholders from across the pig and poultry industries at the NEC in Birmingham. It was a valuable opportunity which reinforced the importance of collaboration at every stage of the supply chain.
Conversations reflecting the realities of modern farming
Red Tractor’s new CEO, Paul McLaughlin, spent time meeting with producers and industry representatives, hearing first-hand about the priorities and challenges facing farmers today. These conversations continue to play a crucial role in shaping how Red Tractor supports these sectors, ensuring that standards and assurance remain grounded in the realities of modern farming and will help shape this year’s work to improve the standards.
A key highlight of the event was a panel discussion featuring Red Tractor’s Director of Communications & Engagement, Jo Miller. The session, “The Communications Battle – How should the poultry sector respond to activism?”, explored the increasing scrutiny faced by the industry exploring how it can respond effectively.
A unified and credible voice
A clear message emerged: trust, transparency and consistency are critical. With growing activism, scrutiny and advances in covert surveillance technology, the sector must work together to ensure a unified and credible voice. An evidence-based, consistent and fair approach is essential to upholding standards and protecting farmers’ reputations and maintaining consumer confidence.
Alongside this, Red Tractor Sector Board Chairs Nick Major and Stewart Houston presented the upcoming standards review for the pig and poultry sectors. Feedback from across the event highlighted a clear priority: standards must remain robust while also being proportionate and reflective of modern farming practices. Getting this balance right is key to supporting producers while continuing to deliver consumer confidence.
Bridging the gap between farmers and consumers
Across all conversations, the importance of education and communication came through strongly. There is a shared recognition that the sector must do more to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers, explaining how food is produced, demonstrating the high standards in place, and confidently telling the story of British farming.
At Red Tractor, our role remains clear. Through robust assurance, independent assessment and close collaboration with farmers, we are committed to upholding credible standards, addressing challenges, driving continuous improvement and protecting the reputation of British agriculture.
Building and maintaining trust requires transparency, accountability and action. Events like the Pig & Poultry Fair provide an important platform to listen, engage and ensure British farming is understood, valued and championed.
The review covers 179 standards and 480 audit points, which are assessed through workshops, shared documentation, and engagement with stakeholders to ensure consistency with other schemes. The next step is for the TAC to share draft sections of the updated standards with the 
This will be a multi-stage process, starting with a check of standards against a broad range of requirements. A detailed redrafting stage will then follow. Changes to the standards will be evidence-based and proportionate, maintaining alignment with other sectors so that consumers continue to recognise Red Tractor as a single, trusted mark.
To ensure transparency and collaboration, the TAC is sharing draft sections of the revised standards with the Dairy Sector Board for review as they become available. At its last meeting, the Board welcomed the constructive way all parts of the supply chain were contributing to the process.
Alan King, Chair of the Crops TAC says: “In what are challenging times for our industry we are grateful for the support of our TAC members from all across the crops supply chain for their contributions to this extensive and detailed review process.”
Feedback on the priorities for this review were limited by align with Red Tractor’s existing priorities of reducing bureaucracy, smarter audits, clarity of standards, improving import parity, and strengthening earned recognition. Jude Capper, TAC Chair said: “The TAC are working incredibly hard on making sure that beef & lamb standards fulfil the expectations of all stakeholders and provide real value in demonstrating the high safety, welfare and traceability practiced on British farms. We are excited to see and act upon the feedback from future consultations.”
As with the last major standards review, your responses will be key to how we take the new Version 6 forward. It will be an honest consultation, with all views taken into account, with post review comms listing the key points from the review.
