What the Red Tractor can do for you

Find out how the Red Tractor benefits these licensees.

Producers
Food packers and processors
Food service

Producers

"The Red Tractor is a fantastic tool for farmers when we're talking to the public about how their food is produced. The logo is synonymous with quality home-produced food that guarantees high animal welfare and environmental standards, so it's great to be able simply to tell people to look out for the Red Tractor and help support our farmers.

Working to the Red Tractor standards really keeps us on our toes. Being inspected means you have to address all the legal requirements and more besides.

Animal welfare is particularly important. People might be surprised about how much legislation there is relating to the keeping of animals, and the Red Tractor standards reinforce that. We're always at pains to make sure our cattle get the best of everything we can give them - plenty of room and bedding, plenty to eat and drink.

When it comes to the environment there are standards that require us to protect wildlife and avoid polluting streams. Although we don't have to by law, we've got a six-metre border around all our cereal fields in which we grow a grass and wildflower mix to support a variety of wildlife such as butterflies, birds and small mammals."

Rosey Dunn, Red Tractor Farmer



"We joined the Red Tractor farm scheme for combinable crops in 1997 when the scheme started.

Being a member of the scheme helps us to produce crops to the high standards our customers and shoppers require. It has also proved a good format for formalising all the record keeping for machinery, grain storage and crop protection.

All the main crop buyers in the UK including flour millers, malt producers, seed crushers and animal feed producers specify assured crops because of the confidence it gives them that it has been produced to high standards.

We sell our oilseed to a milling plant in North West Kent which is turned into vegetable oil and our wheat to a different milling plant also in Kent.

The Red Tractor scheme for combinable crops also covers barley, oats, rye, peas, beans and sugar beet. It covers all the key areas for producing safe, quality food including how pesticides can be used, hygiene of storage facilities, safe storage of fertiliser and how to keep the grain storage free from contamination to ensure the product is safe. Providing a comprehensive standard of good agricultural practice.

In addition to being members of the Red Tractor combinable crops scheme the farm is a member of the Government environmental schemes which focuses on maintaining woodland, waterways and hedgerows to protect and encourage the natural habitats for birds, insects and other wildlife.

You can find the Red Tractor logo on Allinson flour, Silver Spoon sugar and a growing number of products in the leading supermarkets."

Jonathan Tipples, Red Tractor Farmer



"We're producing food, and it's important that food is produced to high standards. Assured British Pigs is the scheme I'm inspected under to ensure I'm meeting Red Tractor standards. I'm also certified under the RSPCA's Freedom Foods animal welfare standards.

The Red Tractor standards require that we do what should almost be second nature – things like having the right stocking rates in our paddocks and huts, ensuring that feed is stored correctly, keeping up with our paperwork and disposing of waste properly rather than burning it or burying it in the ground. We have to have evidence that we're doing all these things, and evidence of quarterly visits by the vet to check on the health and welfare of our pigs.

I think it's very important to support British agriculture, and the Red Tractor gives the assurance that the food the consumer buys actually comes from British farms. It's also important to look after the environment as Red Tractor standards require. I'm quite keen on the local wildlife, and it's nice to see birds like the rare stone curlews that nest quite freely in the vicinity of our pigs."

Chris Fogden, Red Tractor Farmer



"A tremendous amount of effort and integrity goes into growing crops to Assured Produce standards, which are the standards we have to meet to be part of the Red Tractor scheme. Because we're a Red Tractor farm there's not a customer in this country that shouldn't have confidence in the food that we produce. We grow what we grow in a diligent manner and we are independently inspected to confirm and demonstrate that."

Sarah Pettitt, Red Tractor Farmer



"The Red Tractor shows the public that what they are buying comes from a farm that has been independently inspected and has been shown to be producing food to a high standard and in a responsible manner. Being inspected regularly has really sharpened us up and made us improve various aspects of our farming – such as our record keeping and the way we handle our grain."

Matt Read, Red Tractor Farmer



"I'm really proud to be producing good-quality food in a pleasant environment to such high standards. By buying Red Tractor products consumers know that every aspect of production has been rigorously checked, and they can have complete confidence that their food has been produced from healthy animals with great care for the environment."

Clive Gurney, Red Tractor Farmer



"Being part of the scheme allows me to demonstrate to the consumer by means of the Red Tractor, that the turkey I produce is grown to the highest standards of welfare, and stockmanship.

The annual inspections ensure all activities within the farm are carefully monitored and collated for reference."

Ben Hay, Red Tractor Farmer



"The Red Tractor helps point the consumer towards locally produced British food. It guarantees that what you are buying has been produced solely in this country to a particular standard. Other labelling schemes don't necessarily guarantee those things. More needs to be done to ensure that consumers know about the Red Tractor and what it means.

I sit on the technical committee for Assured Produce, the Red Tractor scheme under which my own farm is inspected. We've spent a lot of time on the committee looking at the issue of pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables and ways to reduce them.

Another important issue is e-coli contamination, which has been a particular challenge for some growers of leafy salads and herbs. We want to bring in additional standards to tackle the problem and help growers to stop it happening."

Simon Elworthy, Red Tractor Farmer

Food packers and processors

" Shredded Wheat was the first breakfast cereal to display the Red Tractor symbol back in 2007, and now our Shreddies range carries the Red Tractor logo too. It's a mark that we're pleased to be associated with because it reflects our commitment to using locally grown wheat and delivering high-quality cereal products"

Andrew Pyne, Cereal Partners UK



"It is incredibly important to us that we work closely with our suppliers and get our ingredients from local farms. Knowing that every drop of Young’s Bitter has been made with Red Tractor-approved barley is a strong provenance message for our consumers"

Jim Robertson, Wells and Young’s Brewery

Food service

"It’s great that we’ve gained this trusted certification for our restaurants. Having the Red Tractor on our menus shows our commitment to the UK farming industry."

Marco Zacharia, John Lewis



"We are excited to be working with Assured Food Standards, Prime Meats and Dairy Crest to supply our 32 hospital restaurants and the patients in those hospitals with Red Tractor meat and milk. It’s important to supply our restaurants with quality, fresh, assured meat and milk from UK farms."

Andy Jones, ISS Mediclean



"Selling quality British products is an integral part of our our customer-driven strategy. Prime Meats has been working closely with Assured Food Standards since 2004 and our growing range of Red Tractor products demonstrates our continued commitment to British farming and to offering quality British products to our discerning customers"

Rob McFarlane, Prime Meats