This Week in Farming: Assurance, dredging and farm safety

Welcome to This Week in Farming, your regular round-up of the best content from Farmers Weekly, chosen by deputy editor Abi Kay.

With the boss, Andrew Meredith, on holiday in deepest Wales, I’ve had to step into his boots. And what a week it’s been.

Red Tractor saga continues

Assurance has been in the spotlight once again this week, after it emerged that the Red Tractor ownership body would lead the investigation into its governance.

Industry leaders have warned that the review risks becoming a “whitewash” unless things are changed.

And there are further fears that Red Tractor expects the review to be so “lightweight” that once it’s done and dusted early next year, it can press ahead with the controversial Greener Farms Commitment on the original timescales.

Read Andrew’s take on the situation.

Dredging dilemma

One of the few topics that will get farmers as hot under the collar as assurance is river dredging.

This week, Philip Clarke and Philip Case have taken a closer look at whether the practice could help prevent flooding on farms.

It’s a contentious topic – as shown by our recent interview with John Price, the farmer who went to prison for carrying out works on the River Lugg.

That piece is from last week, but well worth a read (or a watch: there’s video) if you missed it.

Meanwhile in Scotland, £1.8m worth of funding is being made available by the Scottish government to farmers to repair floodbanks damaged by recent storms.

Keeping safe

With the festive period fast approaching, Shropshire farmer Matthew Orme has teamed up with West Mercia Police to launch a new campaign to tackle drink-driving.

Mr Orme’s family-run bottled-water business, Wenlock Spring, has printed 100,000 beer mats, posters and glasses with the sobering message for drivers to steer clear of alcohol.

But safety is for life, not just for Christmas. Which is why we’re running a test of pto shaft guards this week – rating them for quality, price and servicing.

And our resident farm doctor Camilla Baker is back to tell you all about how to check yourself for prostate and testicular cancer, in a piece by Matilda Bovingdon.

Don’t forget to check this out – it could save your life, as a previous piece in this series on heart attacks saved the life of farmer Billy Swainson.

FW Farm Inventions Competition returns

Are you the next Jethro Tull? Farmers Weekly’s long-running Farm Inventions Competition is back.

If you’ve designed a machine, gadget or knick-knack of your own, it’s time to get involved.

The competition’s format means that you can still win one of the top prizes even if you have built something small and relatively uncomplicated.

The total pot for this year is £2,550, with the results decided by a panel of journalists and farmers.

Learn more about all the details and how to enter.

Who’s up and who’s down?

It’s undoubtedly been a good week for Graham Wilkinson, global vice-president of agriculture at Arla, who has just been appointed the new chief executive of AHDB.

Lancashire livestock farmer Thomas Binns, Merseyside arable farmer Olly Harrison, Lincolnshire arable farmer Andrew Ward and Herefordshire mixed farmer Martin Williams are all also potentially on the up, having announced they will – or likely will – run for officeholder positions in the upcoming NFU elections.

But leading high street bank NatWest has had a more challenging week, after the NFU criticised its “Carbon Footprint Tracker” app, which had been encouraging customers to cut red meat out of their diet and drink plant-based “milks”.