When and why were Assured Food Standards (AFS) and the Red Tractor scheme established?

Red Tractor was the vision of ex-National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Ben Gill, who saw that if there was a proliferation of assured food logos for every agricultural sector, there would be anarchy. He had an idea for a single farm product logo to bring coherence to all the schemes.

AFS is the independent organisation set up to manage, develop and promote the Red Tractor as a mark of safe, quality, affordable food that the public can trust. Our job is to act as an umbrella for the fresh produce, combinable crop, pig, poultry, beef, lamb and dairy sectors.

Red Tractor is jointly owned by the NFU, the British Retail Consortium, the Ulster Farmers’ Union, the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and Dairy UK, with involvement from the Food and Drink Federation. We have a board of directors representing all stakeholders. We are therefore owned by the food chain and there is strength in that, as the British food chain working in tandem is a more credible proposition than one single vested interest.

We value our independence and it works. We now cover £8 billion-worth of UK food at retail level and upwards of 70 per cent of fresh produce grown in the UK is Red Tractor-assured. We count potatoes as fresh produce and probably more than 90 per cent of British potato acreage is assured - root crops and salads are also strong. We account for around

70 per cent of total acreage of top fruit as well.

For consumers, what does the Red Tractor logo stand for?

Our consumer research has shown that shoppers are not interested in the finer details of the scheme. Of course, there are many different challenges across the sectors in which we operate, but consumers just want to know that the Red Tractor logo assures farm standards and that the scheme is independently audited. Although we have an important technical underpinning, we don’t need to constantly push that down consumers’ throats.

However, there are certain issues that get into the national media, for example pesticide residues, when we lock on to our foundations and let those consumers who are receptive know that what we do is right and that the Red Tractor logo means they do not need to worry about what they may have seen on television the night before.

Recently AHDB announced funding for Red Tractor - what shape will this take?

There have been statutory levies in each of the sectors in which we operate for some time, apart from poultry. The levies were used to fund research and science, market statistics and even communication campaigns. Recently there has been this restructuring of the levy boards into the AHDB.

Red Tractor was already established in all the AHDB’s sectors. The AHDB decided there was a need for a basic cross-sector marketing policy and to rationalise the amount of assured food logos. The AHDB has made a promise that it will provide some direct funding for Red Tractor marketing, and is now seeking permission from Brussels to go ahead, which we are hopeful will take about six months to be granted.

There has been some controversy in the press recently about the rules surrounding the use of the Red Tractor logo on multi-ingredient food. Can you clarify this?

When we set up the logo we decided to only use it on food sold as a primary product. If a product contained more than five per cent non-Red Tractor-assured food, it could not bear the logo. For example, it could not be used on thin-cut McCain frozen potato chips, which contained nine per cent oil, but it could be used on thick-cut chips, with only three per cent oil.

We stuck to our criteria but realised early on that we were cutting off our nose to spite our face and missing a huge opportunity to tell consumers that assured potatoes are being used in these products and giving farmers credit for producing them to such high standards. Another option was to have all the ingredients in a product assured, which would restrict the possibilities for products to carry the Red Tractor logo.

So we have gone for a third option - highlighting the main characterising ingredient, which has to be, at the absolute minimum, 65 per cent of product content. The characterising ingredient has to be 100 per cent assured. Most examples far exceed this figure - McCain’s oven chips, for example, now contain 95 per cent Red Tractor-assured potatoes.

AFS has robust systems and rigorous standards in place to ensure that mistakes are not made. We carry out tough independent inspections throughout the supply chain. All licensees must comply with all our standards for the Red Tractor to appear on their products. We do not hesitate to suspend certification if we find cause for concern.

Is consumer knowledge of the Red Tractor logo and what it stands for increasing?

We do measure consumer awareness and it is growing. Funding from AHDB should put us in a better position to get to consumers on a regular basis with campaigns to build recognition of the logo.

We do have a media information service and focus on trade press, as well as consumer media. We have organised a lot of events and it is remarkable how much attention they can attract. We took a delegation to Downing Street to see Tony Blair and a few years ago we held Red Tractor Week and got MPs to go quad biking, which generated press beyond our wildest dreams. We also hired a celebrity chef, James Tanner, to entertain consumers, which is far better than anything preachy or technical.

The ‘buy British’ movement has helped Red Tractor, as has all the publicity about origin labelling. We have always had the origin statement on our logo with the flag and consumers know it can be trusted.

What is the relationship between Red Tractor and logos such as LEAF and Freedom Foods?

LEAF is very strong on environmental protection criteria, while Freedom Foods is about animal welfare. Both schemes accept that Red Tractor is the foundation scheme and they will build on that in the future. All three parties believe that we dovetail together in a coherent way, rather than competing.

Red Tractor has also studiously avoided being linked to any one retailer. We are grateful for the support we get from all the top retailers, including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and The Co-op, and we are making good progress with the discounters. We now underpin all retailers’ own brands, as well as a lot of branded goods.

What is next for the Red Tractor logo?

The best thing to get more producers assured is to offer added value, and that is where the Red Tractor logo comes in. Assurance schemes are about upholding the reputation of the industry. Our aim continues to be to get farmers to join the Red Tractor family to help satisfy the public’s growing appetite for responsibly produced food and support the farmers in a bid to meet consumer demand and increase business.

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