Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) president David Brown said, “Red Tractor has announced that it will not progress with the implementation of any new standards or additional modules until the first NFU independent review, focusing on Red Tractor governance, is completed. We welcome this news as it is in line with what our executive committee and wider membership requested.
“The UFU in principle has long supported the Red Tractor quality assurance scheme as it is vital to allow our farmers to compete in the marketplaces in which they operate. However, we were not satisfied with the development and procedure of the Greener Farms Commitment module (GFC) and following the announcement that it would be a bolt-on to Red Tractor’s existing farm assurance schemes, the UFU supported the call for an independent review into the governance and operation of Red Tractor.
“Last week the UFU executive committee decided that they would only get involved in the Red Tractor Development Advisory Panel for the GFC module if all the devolved farming unions do so and also if the implementation of the GFC is paused. It’s critical that we are able to have our say and share our views as part of this review.”
