I am writing to update you on the meeting of The Dairy Sector Board on 6th November, and, as always, I am very grateful to board members who made the effort to attend in person from all the four nations of the UK.
In the opening remarks of my chairman’s report, I first paid tribute to a past board member, David Brookes, who died suddenly earlier this month, and we send our condolences to his family. I also acknowledged that recent events have only compounded the pressure on our farming members and highlighted that we will take every opportunity to reiterate this in our conversations with governments and stakeholders across the industry. Along with other Red Tractor colleagues, I have met with the Ulster Farmers Union, NFU Cymru, Farming Union of Wales, and some of the major processors and retailers across the UK and I have further planned to meet NFUS, more retailers and more processors. The purpose of these meetings is not only to try to understand first-hand the concerns that all stakeholders in the supply chain have, but also to get their thoughts on how Red Tractor should adapt in the short, medium and long term.
After receiving a report on the current compliance levels within our sector and how we currently approach risk-based assessments on poor performing farms the sector board turned their attention to considering what assurance should look like in the future and how we deliver robust farm assurance whilst striving to minimise audit burden on farmers. We had a very constructive, broad ranging and positive discussion on how we might do that, aiming to reward good compliance, reviewing standards and the use of IT solutions to assist the audit process. This discussion was guided by the initial thoughts expressed by the board at our meeting in July. We will continue to focus on this as we start to think about and develop our standards and processes going forward.
In response to the governance review carried out by Cambell Tickell at the end of last year the AFS Board, of which I am a member, is committed to building on our already strong governance by reviewing the Terms of Reference of the different levels of the organisation. At the meeting the Dairy Board started with those for the Technical Advisory Committees that do such vital work in scrutinising the technical aspect of our standards. We have also published a governance handbook for the organisation on our website.
Best regards, Tim Lock,
Chair, Red Tractor Dairy Board
Members of the Dairy board:
Peter Dawson – Dairy UK
Michael Masters – First Purchaser Representative
Ian Harvey – NFU
Alice Miller – British Cattle Veterinary Association
Murray Patrick – NFU Scotland
Paul Dover – Dairy UK
Lucy Squire – Dairy UK
Steve Harris – Dairy UK
Natalie Smith – Multiple Retailer
Joseph Keating – BRC
Mervyn Gordon – UFU
Lee Truelove – Dairy UK
Neville Graham – Dairy UK NI
Nic Parsons – AHDB
Jonathan Wilkinson – NFU WCymru
