The first UK-wide comprehensive review of farm assurance has called for a 'fundamental reset' in order to rebuild confidence amongst farmers.
The 9-month review, established by the UK farming unions and AHDB, was conducted independently by four commissioners and is published today (20 January).
It concludes that farm assurance is critical to the industry’s future and is delivering necessary assurances on quality to consumers.
However, the 198-page report calls for some fundamental changes to address growing frustration amongst farmers in how it is delivered.
It follows the controversy over Red Tractor's Greener Farms Commitment (GFC) environmental module, which had to be scrapped following significant backlash last year.
Farm leaders said that more granular, technical and practical elements of the GFC should have been consulted on more widely with the industry before it was unveiled.
Fears were also raised that the GFC would slowly evolve into a requirement for market access and would mean farmers footing the bill for putting in place sustainability measures on behalf of retailers.
According to today's report, dissatisfaction expressed by farmers was not uniform across all sectors nor across all UK nations, as assurance schemes in devolved areas were working more effectively than UK-wide schemes.
The report is therefore nuanced in its approach, recognising where existing arrangements work well but being clear where changes are essential.
The review makes nine strategic recommendations, including for all on-farm audits to be reduced, simplified and delivered more consistently.
There must be a transformational step forward in embracing technology, the commissioners say, and all schemes must review and improve their communication with farmers.
The report also calls for Red Tractor to complete the implementation of recommendations in the Campbell Tickell report on its governance.
Lead commissioner, Dr David Llewellyn said the review was the first fundamental look at UK farm assurance since it was established in the 1990s.
He said: "So much has changed over the last 30 years and we know that further change is on the horizon for the farming industry. Farm assurance must be a critical part of that future.
"However, for that to happen, significant changes are needed to win back farmer confidence where it has been lost, to build on what already works well and to secure a competitive edge for UK farming on the world stage."
As part of the report, the four commissioners - Dr David Llewellyn, Mark Suthern, James Withers and Katrina Williams - undertook considerable research and took into account evidence from every part of the UK food and farming supply chain.
They found competing interests and ambitions for the farm assurance system, which, over time, "has added complexity and stress for farmers, many of whom now struggle to identify any real benefits to their business".
"Worse still, many feel they live in a permanent state of jeopardy with ‘make or break’ audits determining whether their businesses can operate or not," Dr Llewellyn explained.
"The reality is that too many farmers feel farm assurance is ‘done to them’ rather than ‘delivered with them’. It should be better than this."
Farmers consulted as part of the review want to produce to the highest standards and to be supported by assurance schemes in that endeavour.
However, they also want to be appropriately compensated for the considerable effort required by the current farm assurance system, the report notes.
The commissioners say they recognised that the system is essential to provide assurance of high production standards.
However, they say it must also deliver for all parts of the food chain, including contributing to a process of continuous farming improvement, something the approach of the current assurance system does not always provide.
Dr Llewellyn concluded: “Many of our recommendations will be challenging. They are about changes to organisational cultures and expectations, as much as they are about processes.
"But we view them as integral to building a farm assurance system that is trusted, successful and underpins a profitable future for UK farming.”
What are the recommendations?
The review makes nine strategic recommendations:
• On-farm audits must be reduced, simplified and delivered more consistently;
• There must be a transformational step forward in embracing technology;
• Schemes need to reset and/or restate their structures to establish farmers as the driving voice in standards development;
• A new industry-led initiative must set out the future environmental ambitions for farm assurance;
• The inclusion of regulatory requirements within farm assurance should be conditional on government agreeing a form of ‘earned recognition’;
• There must be greater collaboration between farm assurance schemes across the UK;
• Schemes must better position the UK farming industry in world food markets and in competition with imported food;
• All schemes must review and improve their communication with farmers
• The Red Tractor scheme must complete the implementation of recommendations in the Campbell Tickell report on its governance.
