A thank you for 25 years of working to Great British food and farming standards
Tuesday 24 June 2025
By Jim Moseley,
Red Tractor CEO
Cast your mind back, if you can, to the end of the last millennium. Tony Blair was Prime Minister. People watched programs at set times on box-like televisions, with a choice of five terrestrial channels and the only electric cars were on Scalextric tracks. You might have recently bought the mighty Nokia 3310 mobile phone – but it didn’t have a camera and the idea that one day you’d be using it to file your accounts, check the weather or video chat to people on the other side of the world would have seemed like science fiction.
Something else was very different then too: the reputation of British food and farming was in crisis. A cascade of critical issues during the 1980s and 1990s – BSE, salmonella in eggs, pesticide residues, foot-and-mouth disease – had caused consumer confidence to plummet. Some businesses would proudly proclaim that they didn’t stock British beef. UK farmers and food businesses had lost market share at home as well as export contracts.
The importance of food and farm assurance
Farmers committing to assurance schemes like Red Tractor underpin public trust in British food. Red Tractor isn’t just the largest food assurance scheme in the UK, covering 75% of the nation’s food production – it’s also the most recognised and trusted farm assurance marques on the market. 72% of shoppers recognise the Red Tractor logo, and 58% say it’s important to them in the food choices they make. That’s because when consumers see the Red Tractor logo on a product, they trust that it’s been produced and handled with care across the product’s journey to the supermarket.
It’s also thanks to the brands and retailers which insist on fully traceable supply chains, for whom the Red Tractor logo signifies credibility behind their claims of provenance and quality. Red Tractor now assures £17 billion worth of British food and drink; a number we’re incredibly proud of and which we will continue to grow so the daily efforts of our members and licensees are known by more and more British consumers.
We’re proud too of the government trust held by our Red Tractor members. Because of ‘earned recognition’ agreements, Red Tractor assured farms receive far fewer inspections from some government agencies. For example, a Red Tractor assured dairy farm can expect a hygiene inspection from the Food Standards Agency once every 10 years, compared to every two years for non-certified farms.
British farming is also being deservedly recognised at an international level. The European Commission, for example, lists Red Tractor as one of the voluntary schemes that meets its sustainability requirements for biofuels, opening up access to a growing market across Europe. Red Tractor is frequently cited by the likes of the World Trade Organization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (Codex) used Red Tractor and its relationship with the FSA, as a global exemplar of how regulation and third-party assurance can work in harmony to strengthen food standards and trade. Thanks to the year-round commitments of our members, the UK is widely seen as a global leader in farm assurance, marking a 180-degree shift over the last 25 years.
The next 25 years of standards
But while we have much to celebrate as we look back, our focus is firmly on the future. As technology continues to reshape the public conversation about food and where it comes from, so will the scrutiny of farming practices.
Ensuring food safety remains an ongoing job, and we can never take our eye off the ball. According to the World Health Organisation 600 million people fall ill and 420 000 people die from unsafe food every year. While the UK can boast one of the lowest rates in the world, we are not immune, as the e-coli outbreak in 2024 highlighted.
Consumer concerns and scrutiny over Animal welfare continue to grow and we want to keep working with farmers to improve the lives of farmed animals – as reflected in recently introduced tiered labelling for “enhanced welfare” and “free range” poultry. Ultimately we want every shopper, whatever their budget, to demand Red Tractor.
Maintaining trust in British food is crucial with the government negotiating a series of new free trade deals that could expose farmers to increased competition. In this context, it’s encouraging to see Retailers and Caterers continued commitment – Aldi and Tesco reaffirming their commitment to sourcing meat and dairy products from Red Tractor certified British farms. Ultimately, customers want food they can trust – and our high standards can provide a competitive edge, in both domestic and export markets.
Of course, we must continue to deliver value for farmers and food businesses too. Following the recent independent Farm Assurance Review, we have committed to wide-ranging improvements to ensure our system works for farmers. We’ve already begun work on improving audit efficiency and using new technology to reduce the burden on farmers.
We’ll also be launching a new marketing and communications campaign to tie in with our 25th anniversary, which will drive consumer awareness and understanding of what the Red Tractor label means – further reinforcing the public’s trust in farm-assured British produce.
We don’t know what the world will look like in 2050. But in the years ahead, we’re determined to play our part in supporting British farmers and businesses who go to great lengths to ensure that everyone benefits from food produced to high standards.
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