Red Tractor troubles, and the problem of ‘skimpflation’

The dry and cold weather has certainly dried things up and a much needed change after all the wet weather. Another storm on Sunday and maybe a period of more changeable weather now? Snowdrops have been out for some time and the first wild daffodils are blooming at Tillington; signs of spring even if a good month away.

The days are getting longer and we gain the first hour back on the shortest day at the weekend and from then on it will gather pace; plenty to look forward to!

The Farmers Weekly magazine continues to break with its past and seems to be vying with the Farmers Guardian for ‘Red Top’ credentials.

Last week it was calling for the resignation of

Jim Moseley, CEO of the Red Tractor Farm Assurance scheme in its editorial; in fact it was calling for at least a change of chief executive.

That calls for some evidence and sound argument at the very least and I am afraid that I was not convinced and therefore a very damaging piece which was not substantiated.

The editorial majored on what Chris Walkland had to say at the Semex Conference where he makes a celebrated annual appearance, appealing to many and dressing up for the occasion.

It was an undertaker’s black hat and long coat last year as he predicted major falls in milk prices and this year a white tailed coat, signalling a reawakening rather than a funeral.

I know Chris very well and I talk to him quite often, usually to disagree strongly or lambast him for unfairly criticising people or organisation.

He is a self-styled journalist and market analyst, with many are happy to give him those titles, but he is more populist than serious and real journalists and analysts are somewhat different.

Chris is a larger than life public figure in the dairy industry who sets out to be controversial, outspoken and entertaining, but we should not confuse entertainment with serious comment which often has consequences.

For a serious journal such as the Farmers Weekly to name, quote and use Chris Walkland as the reason for change at the top when discussing a review into Red Tractor currently taking place, is a serious misjudgement in my view.

A review into Red Tractor governance should take its course and report back and not be undermined by cheap shots; unless of course the Farmers Weekly has decided for itself what the result of the review should be?

A year or so ago Red Tractor was in trouble for taking its farm assurance compliance away from a dairy farm exposed on the BBC Panorama programme for unacceptable practices which contained footage of poor welfare and behaviour by staff.

Once assurance was removed the farm could not sell its milk and the industry divided into those who agreed with Chris Walkland, that Red Tractor was acting as judge and jury, taking the farmer’s livelihood away which was wrong.

I and many others felt that there was no option given that this was a Red Tractor farm; how else do you maintain the credibility of the scheme and indeed the dairy industry?

Chris and I had many heated discussions about this case at the time and I am sure that whilst he was not a great supporter before, this turned him against Red Tractor for ever. It was a tough decision and hugely uncomfortable to watch, but it sent a powerful message to the industry.

No doubt several weeks without a milk cheque whilst changes were made, and Red Tractor had to be satisfied were very difficult financially and I had great sympathy with one farm carrying the can due to secret footage taken by a rogue employee.

However, it was very clear that breaches were a regular occurrence and staff attitude to the dairy cows and their welfare was poor; one cannot have an assurance standard which falls at the first fence.

We will find out what the review into Red tractor governance recommends in due course and we should not speculate what that might be.

The Farmers Weekly also points out that Minette Batters President of the NFU steps down next month and as one of Red Tractor’ greatest supporters, Jim Moseley should consider doing likewise.

It’s a rather nasty editorial if I’m honest, based on flimsy evidence if it can be called that and does a serious journal no credit. Let the Guardian be the entertaining Red Top and stick to serious journalism would be my advice.

Sophie Throup of Morrison’s stated the enormous pressure on retailers to deliver on green measures from the likes of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and is exploring the possibility of a premium which could be paid to farmers for the Red Tractor environmental module.

Red Tractor is answering the call from retailers in attempting to deliver this measure, she said, in the first remarks by a retailer over this matter. I believe that it could be the answer here, and in other areas where farmers are asked to deliver more; pay for it and we will.

‘Shrinkflation’ is in the news and rightly so as supermarkets not only cut down on pack size, but in expensive meat and dairy ingredients, described as ‘skimpflation’.

When your sausages have less pork, your butter has less dairy, your ready meals less meat, chicken enchiladas less chicken, the drive is to cut expensive ingredients and charge you the same or maybe more.

Olive oil in expensive spreads has been more than halved since prices shot up and all this, Which magazine reports from customer survey is very unhelpful.

There are other words for it of course and consumer groups report that whilst retailers claim that reducing the size rather than increasing the price has helped consumers, 75% of those consumers stated that this is not transparent practice.

The result is that shoppers pay more for less and supermarkets should be more upfront, making it clear with prominent, upfront unit pricing, legible and consistent in order to allow comparison across brands.

Time to wheel out Andrew Opie from the British Retail Consortium as usual to state the obvious and hide behind the small print

Andrew states that all prices and sizes are clearly labelled, so that customers can make informed decisions. He then waxes lyrically about the cost of living squeeze and the challenges facing households and how retailers are solely focussed on finding ways to limit price rises.

Well pull the other one Andrew, its about profit margin, competition and manipulation; he might just as well have said that in the fine print on the labels with a calculator, you can work out the value.

The Welsh Government is out of touch say Welsh farmers as ignorant comments are made by Labour Senedd members. Such comments as, ‘there is no reason to subsidise agriculture’ and ‘farmers with perpetual TB infection in their cows should find another business’.

The proposed cut to the summer school holidays will cost the Royal Show millions in lost revenue and is seen as another blow in systematically dismantling rural communities in Wales. The mask has slipped from the faces of a few Labour members recently, showing the complete disregard for agriculture and the rural way of life farmers claim.