UK growers dismayed over ‘double standards’ of feed mills
© Adobe Stock/aldisskudre Growers are calling for a level playing field amid allegations of “double standards” over domestic and imported grain entering UK feed mills.
Currently, the requirements for UK growers to access feed mills certified under the Agricultural Industry Confederation (AIC) Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS) are more stringent than those for growers in the rest of the world.
For example, UK and Eire growers must be members of a farm assurance scheme which is recognised by the AIC in order to supply grain to feed mills under UFAS. The vast majority of feed mills in the UK are AIC UFAS assured.
See also: Red Tractor – the pros and cons of farm assurance schemes
Some of the recognised schemes include Red Tractor Farm Assurance Crops, Scottish Quality Crops, the Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured Crops Scheme and the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme.
However, there is no grower assurance scheme required for grain imports into AIC UFAS-certified feed mills. Imports destined for these feed mills must only have the merchanting/shipping checked and assured at the first point of collection.
This simply involves either a pesticide residue test, or alternatively, a declaration that the pesticides used to grow the crop are approved in the UK.
Different requirements
East Yorkshire grower Steve Ridsdale has spoken out about this anomaly on Twitter. He is calling for one common standard and a level playing field, no matter what the country of origin.
Mr Ridsdale told Farmers Weekly: “The AIC has two different standards to supply its UFAS feed mills based solely on country of origin.
“In short, requirements for UK and Eire growers are more onerous than for any other country that supplies grain to our feed mills. The only thing that they must do is make a simple pesticide declaration – and that is acceptable by AIC.
“I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with that. But why can’t UK growers use the same method to assure food/feed safety when supplying a UFAS mill?
“There is a discrimination in required standards for UK versus imports, making market access for UK growers more difficult and expensive.”
There were ways to emulate the rules for imports in a much cheaper way, rather than having to “jump through the hoops” of a Red Tractor assurance scheme, or similar, he said.
“To level the playing field, all UK growers would need is a tick box on the grain passport to declare, ‘only grown with UK-approved pesticides within legal dosage rates’.”
‘Unlevel playing field’
Mr Ridsdale farms 100ha in the Vale of York where he grows wheat, barley and beans for the feed market and oilseed rape for the crushers.
He said concern over a level playing field was the major issue that farmers kept highlighting during the recent industry-wide Red Tractor consultation on changes to its farm standards.
“Essentially, every UK feed mill comes under the AIC UFAS banner, so growers cannot sell their grain into these unless they are Red Tractor members, or similar,” noted Mr Ridsdale.
“In trade deal negotiations with other countries, it looks like the government will not insist that the specification of grain imports must match UK standards.
“It’s a forlorn hope that imports will ever be produced to Red Tractor equivalent standards. We are the ones who are paying, and they are accessing our markets at a lower cost base.”
‘Jumping through hoops’
Mixed farmer Peter Nicholson, who farms 350ha, also in the Vale of York, said: “You shouldn’t have to jump through more hoops to supply your own market than people from different countries. That’s ridiculous.”
He asked: “Why don’t they [AIC/Red Tractor] want us to have the same standards? What’s their reason?”
Mr Nicholson also questioned how much testing was being carried out to ensure imported grain was not being produced with pesticides banned in the UK.
“I don’t believe they have the resources to do all this testing,” he said. “I can’t believe these countries are using the same pesticides as us even though they are signing the declaration forms.”
Philip Stead farms 202ha of arable land, 10 miles south of Leeds, in West Yorkshire. He supplies grain to a local flour mill and feed barley to local farmers and some animal feed mills.
In order to apply pesticides to crops, his sprayer must undergo annual testing and his sprayer operator must have a certificate of competence and be enrolled on the National Register of Sprayer Operators (NRoSO) for ongoing training and information.
Certified agronomist
All chemicals applied on the farm must be agreed by a Basis- or Facts-qualified agronomist. The farm must also adhere to certain food and hygiene safety standards for the storage of crops under the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
“I have nothing against Red Tractor, but without them we are already covered by legislation with the growing and storage of crops,” Mr Stead said.
“I feel Red Tractor is gold-plating standards that already exist by law, which puts UK grain above standards to start with. The fact is, when it was set up, Red Tractor was meant to offer a premium.
“But what is the point of producing farm-assured grain to have it blended with imported grain to no longer be assured? It’s just putting barriers and costs in front of UK growers that the EU and the rest of the world don’t have to adhere to.”
Chris Telford farms 67ha of arable crops near Ipswich, Suffolk. He said about 99% of the 36ha of wheat grown on the farm was supplied to feed mills in Maldon and Harlow in Essex.
“It’s wrong that imported grain is allowed in not grown to the same standards that we have to go through,” he said. “It is a legal requirement to have our sprayers tested every three years, and Red Tractor insists it’s done annually.
“There’s no premium for being a Red Tractor member, but I cannot sell milling wheat without being a RT-assured farmer.”
Lee Sutton, who farms in Atherstone, Warwickshire, said: “Red Tractor is a totally pointless scheme when non-assured imported cereals are tipped into the same piles as UK Red Tractor assured grain.
“Red Tractor farmers do not get a premium for the membership fee we have to pay, not to mention the ridiculous regulation they have created.”
Discussions ongoing
Industry organisations have been in discussions about this issue since the spring, without finding any solution yet.
An AHDB spokesman said: “An industry group including Red Tractor and AHDB has been meeting over the past couple of months, to try and understand fully what the cost of compliance is for imported grain to meet the required safety checks, in comparison to the cost of Red Tractor assurance. AHDB has committed to fund this work.”
NFU vice-president Tom Bradshaw has been co-ordinating the group, trying to bring greater understanding of the cost of compliance for imports.
Red Tractor has strongly rejected claims by Mr Ridsdale that it was unwilling to enter into discussions with the AHDB and AIC to find solutions to the market access issue.
A spokesman said: “Red Tractor has never refused to enter discussions with AHDB or any other stakeholder on the topic of imported grain standards.
“In fact, Red Tractor has been an active participant in an industry working group on this, which includes the AHDB and is being co-ordinated by NFU vice-president Tom Bradshaw.”
AIC defends principle of sourcing ‘safe and traceable’ imported feed
The UK livestock feed industry is heavily reliant on UK-grown cereals and other feed materials in order to produce safe and traceable feed for UK livestock farmers, the Agricultural Industry Confederation (AIC) says.
The industry operates on the feed material sourcing principle of “as local as possible and as global as necessary”, an AIC spokesman said.
In the UK, the Red Tractor farm assurance schemes or equivalent are relied upon for assured combinable crops. Occasionally, UK supplies for cereals are affected by unfavourable weather conditions, such as the 2020 harvest, and the feed industry has to source a proportion of cereals from overseas.
“In this instance, feed companies seek to manage the product quality factors which are within their control,” explained the AIC spokesman.
“This means that feed companies purchase their imported cereals through a gatekeeper, or on a gatekeeper basis, as required by the Feed Materials Assurance Scheme (Femas) or equivalent standard.
“UK feed companies that need to source cereals from overseas are not in control of the methods of production on farms in sourcing countries. Although some overseas farm assurance schemes are available, the additional gatekeeping principles are employed to ensure safe and traceable feed materials that meet all UK feed and food legislative requirements.
“The UK feed industry is dedicated to serving UK livestock farmers and, as such, would defend the principle of sourcing cereals from overseas suppliers when it is necessary.”
Gatekeeper protocol explanation
The gatekeeper protocol requires that products are safe for use and comply with assurance requirements and relevant legislation.
The gatekeeper must ensure a risk assessment based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles is carried out, including all relevant operations and activities relating to the product from production up to delivery including any storage or transport.
This will include a series of laboratory tests including: pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals, dioxins, etc, as well as supplier audits.
AHDB explains funding cut for Red Tractor combinables
The AHDB provides Red Tractor with about £250,000 worth of funding each year, paid for by levy payers.
But in March this year, the AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds board voted to stop a £40,000 tranche of this annual funding for Red Tractor to use to market its Farm Assurance Crops scheme.
An AHDB spokesman said the decision to withdraw the funding had no connection to the different rules for domestic versus imported grain entering feed UK mills.
The spokesman said: “In order to achieve best value for money and more impact for levy payers, the Cereals and Oilseeds board took the decision in March 2021 to re-assess priorities.
“The £40,000 earmarked for Red Tractor was reallocated for additional support for AHDB’s work on pest and weed management and its Integrated Pest Management programme. This decision was not related to the current issue concerning assurance standards for grain imports.”
Got a view on this? Email chief reporter Philip Case at philip.case@markallengroup.com or send a letter to our Letters editor, Philip Clarke, at philip.clarke@markallengroup.com
