“It’s clear that change is needed to ensure farm assurance schemes are fit for a modern farming environment,” said NFU President Tom Bradshaw on the publication of the NFU’s response to the UK Farm Assurance Review.
Led by Dr David Llewellyn and commissioned by the UK farming unions and AHDB, the Farm Assurance Review examined farm to fork assurance schemes across the UK and outlined 56 recommendations under nine strategic themes.
Of the 56 recommendations within the report, there are 13 which require the NFU’s direct involvement, either in a leading or supporting role.
The organisation will be taking these forward, working closely with other relevant stakeholders, to drive much-needed change and better delivery for the whole UK food supply chain and its customers.
NFU actions
Some of the key areas where the NFU will be taking a leadership role include:
- Clarifying the purpose and scope of farm assurance – we will seek to give clear direction for schemes now and in the future, while recognising and delivering autonomy and value for individual farming sectors.
- Data ownership – we will work closely with AHDB to navigate the challenges of data ownership, ensuring that data collection benefits scheme members and adopting simple methods of data collection which avoid duplication and ensure that the value of data is recognised.
- Developing and implementing environmental standards – this is about learning the lessons of the past. We must make sure that any environmental standards have a clear purpose and value, that communications are effective and that farmers and growers are involved in development from the start.
- Informing UK farming about standards in other nations – this is an important area of work and the NFU is committed to help bridge this knowledge gap among its members.
- Farm assurance for combinable crops – the NFU’s national crops board will be supporting this work with a particular focus on delivering transparency around imported grains and are calling for substantive change to current assurance.
- Ownership of Red Tractor – as part of the Red Tractor Ownership Body, we are committed to working with the Red Tractor Board and other owners to deliver the best possible balance of active leadership alongside the Board’s operational delivery and will ensure this process happens transparently.
- A formal assessment of changes to Red Tractor – this will be reviewed and the NFU will support this work by funding (alongside AHDB and the other UK farming unions) the work of Lead Commissioner Dr David Llewelyn and Promar to independently monitor progress against the FAR’s recommendations. This will include the publication of an interim review in Autumn 2025 and a full review in Spring 2026.
Dr David Llewellyn was recently appointed as an independent monitoring and reporting commissioner following the publication of the Farm Assurance Review. He will be facilitating discussions with stakeholders identified in the report to ensure actions are monitored through the publication of independent progress reports.
NFU committed to delivering recommendations
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “The review’s recommendations reflect the key concerns of our members and the NFU is committed to playing its role in delivering these so that farmers and growers, the wider food supply chain and our customers all see the benefit.
“Work is already underway on multiple aspects of the recommendations but there is a lot of work to do and change will not happen overnight. That’s why it’s important that progress is carefully monitored and reported on, something the NFU is glad to support through funding.”
