Editor’s view: Fight is on to take credit for Red Tractor reform
© Mark Richardson/Alamy Stock Photo There is only one way to eat an elephant: A bite at a time.
This week, two factions in the Red Tractor debate have settled in for the long haul to attempt to change the relationship between farmer and retailer – and take credit for it.
Like eating the great grey mammal, neither side have an easy task. Both have an appetite for change, but actions speak louder than words.
See also: Editor’s view: Red Tractor anger puts NFU in tricky spot
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On the one side, NFU president Minette Batters is attempting to put the NFU back together by pledging two reviews that will leave members deliberating whether the tasty morsels of Red Tractor specifically, and the use of assurance schemes in general, outweigh the gristly bits.
In our exclusive interview on the topic with Mrs Batters this week, she expressed remorse for the upset she had caused many members over the NFU’s handling of the Greener Farms Commitment debacle so far.
She is to be commended for responding, albeit belatedly, with full support for the reviews that members asked for at NFU Council.
For the whole NFU leadership, and those who want normal service to resume, the chief benefit of doing the reviews now is that they can point to some action taking place, urge critics to await the outcome of the review, and hope the heat dies down.
The difficulty is the perception that they have been dragged reluctantly into doing the reviews, ratcheting up the expectation that the outcome will be punchy and provocative.
It will be a tough sell indeed if it were to conclude, after weeks of investigation, that all with the assurance scheme was rosy in the garden.
But neither will the rest of the supply chain easily accept something that gives them an unadulterated kicking.
The other faction at the elephant’s table? Those within and without the NFU who have already concluded that they want more radical action than a review – up to and including creating a world that can manage without Red Tractor altogether.
Within these pages you will note the first advertisement for the fledgling rival members’ organisation, the British Farming Union, growing out of the coalition of Red Tractor dissenters on the Farming Forum.
It and its sympathisers have been handed an opportunity they could scarcely have dreamed of a few weeks ago – the biggest flare-up of the issue that has preoccupied them more than any other – meaning plenty of farmers will be at least willing to lend them an ear.
But with attention comes scrutiny and it will now be for them – and dissenters within the NFU who want to see it take a more radical position – to start the work of outlining exactly what they want and how they will achieve it.
Here is a starting point for all parties: A frank assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of British agriculture now compared with 20 years ago.
Much has been made of the troublesome events two decades ago that led to assurance being brought in – on-farm diseases and consumers’ lack of trust in British agriculture to produce food safely.
Disease threats still linger. Trust is stronger, but not to be taken for granted. But perhaps the single biggest change is that the era of cheap food is seemingly over and volatility is off the charts.
Is the quid pro quo for farmers being willing to jump through the hoops that the retailers want an assurance – backed by strengthened supply contracts – that there will be a market for their product above the cost of production?