NFUS says no to digital grain passports

FOLLOWING grassroots discussion with members, NFU Scotland has withdrawn its support for digital grain passports in the cereal sector.

NFU Scotland informed the Cereal Liaison Group which will decided if AHDB should proceed to the ‘build phase’ of the project. The decision was taken after the union’s combinable crops committee received a demonstration of the digital passport system prototype earlier this month.

The committee discussed the pros and cons of this in detail before arriving at a decision. On balance, it found that the cons outweighed the pros. It had also discussed digital grain passports with members in the regions.

A full committee meeting was held on November 11 and, following a vote that reflected the majority views of members, NFU Scotland opted not support proceeding to build phase.

Combinable crops committee chair, Willie Thomson, said: “While many committee members could see some potential advantages of digital grain passports, there was a concern over value for money, future cost increases, and extension of their scope.

“There was an overall feeling that digitising the passports would make something simple more complex and less accessible, at an unreasonably high cost.”

An AHDB spokesperson said: “The Cereals Liaison Group, representing businesses across the supply chain, met in London on November 17 to consider wide ranging feedback from the industry and growers about the development proposal for a digital grain passport.

“The majority of the group remain supportive of the concept and can see the benefits, but a number of questions remain that need to be resolved in order to demonstrate a digital passport will provide sufficient value for all. This includes further discussion about the governance, funding and estimated costs of such a scheme, as well as technical questions regarding the functionality.

“AHDB will only consider funding the digital grain passport if it is clear that all groups of levy payers will benefit from it and that the industry wants to move forward with this project.”