An independent commissioner has been appointed to monitor progress on the delivery of the UK Farm Assurance Review recommendations.
In January, the UK's first ever comprehensive review of farm assurance called for a 'fundamental reset' in order to rebuild confidence amongst farmers.
This 9-month review, established by the UK farming unions and AHDB, was conducted independently by four commissioners.
It was triggered by controversy over Red Tractor's Greener Farms Commitment (GFC) environmental module, which had to be scrapped following significant backlash last year.
The unions and AHDB have now appointed Dr David Llewellyn CBE to take up the sole position of an independent monitoring and reporting commissioner to track the report's recommendations.
Release on 20 January, it made 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 review concluded, and all schemes must review and improve their communication with farmers.
The report also called for Red Tractor to complete the implementation of recommendations in the Campbell Tickell report on its governance.
Dr Llewellyn will shortly be inviting stakeholders identified in the report to submit their feedback on relevant recommendations and to set out their proposed actions for delivery.
He said: “I am pleased that there will be an opportunity, over the next year, for progress in implementing the UKFAR recommendations to be formally assessed and publicly reported.
“My role will be to independently monitor and report on the actions of the organisations identified in the initial farm assurance report."
The appointment of a monitoring commissioner aims to ensure transparency as the industry considers and implements the changes required to help farm assurance work better for farmers.
As well as being responsible for facilitating discussions with stakeholders, over the next year Dr Llewellyn will publish independent progress reports in autumn and spring of 2026.
"It will be for those organisations to participate fully, and transparently, in addressing the recommendations in order to contribute to the improvement of the UK’s farm assurance system," he said.
“I look forward to discussing progress to date with the nominated organisations over the next few months, in preparation for our first monitoring report later this year.”
