Editor’s View: Time for Red Tractor’s CEO Jim Moseley to resign?

To have a successful business you need more than a good product. You need a stock of goodwill or, at the very least, the absence of a bad reputation.

Even if Red Tractor is regarded by some as possessing the former, it is sorely missing the latter.

See also: Morrisons explores premium for Red Tractor green module

This is not based simply on the recent events surrounding the attempted introduction of the Greener Farms Commitment.

Allies of Red Tractor should instead reflect on why an increasing number of farmers have, over several years, concluded that Red Tractor is no longer acting in their interests.

If it was a public company, the board of directors would likely have long since realised that the management is hurting the share price. 

At this week’s Semex conference, dairy analyst Chris Walkland was right when he said that trust and respect will not be regained without fresh leadership.

Red Tractor will not – in Farmers Weekly opinion – be rehabilitated without, at the very least, a new chief executive. A decision not to pursue that will mostly be of benefit to those who seek to bring the organisation down.

Here is why – if the forthcoming governance review finds myriad problems with the structure of Red Tractor, the current leader will be an embarrassing symbol of the previous flawed regime.

If the report exonerates the structures of Red Tractor as adequate for management, the blame for the deeply flawed way the Greener Farms Commitment was introduced will inevitably fall even more heavily on the personnel for not following these apparently appropriate processes.

Consider again my point about the stock of goodwill. In the long run, almost all leaders let it slip through their fingers.

To lead is to choose, and you have to possess a vast stock of talent and luck for all decisions to go your way.

When that doesn’t happen, many businesses rely on a change of leader as the symbol of a fresh start, hoping the mistakes and arguments of the past are swept out of the door with the predecessor.

Why else do you think the NFU and other membership organisations put rules around presidential terms of office? It provides a tidy and natural breakpoint that frequently avoids these unpleasant confrontations.

Red Tractor boss Jim Moseley would do well to reflect on the passing from office of his staunchest industry ally, NFU president Minette Batters, in just a few weeks.

If he is wise, he will also follow the sign marked exit before he is pushed.