20 Years of Red Tractor – our story 

Red Tractor is a not-for-profit company created by farmers and industry leaders in 2000. Together, they wanted to raise awareness of and increase consumer confidence in British farming produce.

At the time, the sector was in crisis following the BSE, Salmonella and Foot and Mouth outbreaks. An NFU survey also found that 7 out of 10 people had no idea what foods their local farmers produced 

Over 20 years later, the Red Tractor logo on food and drink is recognised by consumers nationwide. It tells them these products are traceable, safe and farmed with care. British has become a byword for quality food, but that doesn’t mean our work is over. 

Today, we continue to champion the British food business, linking farming, food production, processing and packing. Our industry now faces several challenges. These include Brexit, future trade deals and how this will affect import standards, the Agricultural Transition Plan and Covid-19.

That means we must redouble our efforts and maintain the very highest standards. Our producers and consumers expect – and deserve – nothing less than the best. 

As a non-for-profit company we have six company guarantors: NFU, Dairy UK, Ulster Farmers’ Union, AHDB, BRC and NFU Scotland. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) also act as an observer.

The Red Tractor Team

Our team is passionate about the industry and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience across the food chain. Some members have been involved in farm assurance since its start in the 1990s. 

Management Team

Jim Moseley – Chief Executive

As CEO, Jim oversees Assured Food Standards and manages the team. He has a keen interest in working with regulatory and enforcement bodies.

Philippa Wiltshire – Head of Operations

Philippa handles industry, regulatory and stakeholder liaison around technical assurance and manages the six sector boards. She also oversees our IT strategy. This helps ensure Red Tractor Assurance data and electronic services meet the needs of RTA, members, and the wider industry.

Richard Cattell – Head of Marketing and Commercial

Richard manages the consumer marketing strategy to raise awareness and understanding of Red Tractor. He also oversees our commercial trade development. This aims to increase the number of licensees using the Red Tractor logo on products.

Chris Ashford – Head of Finance & IT

Chris provides financial guidance and leadership to support the development and delivery of our strategic plans. He is responsible for managing risk, ensuring sound financial management, delivery of our IT strategy and systems as well as liaising with external stakeholders including auditors, bankers, statutory authorities and partner organisations.

Board of Directors 

Our board is made up of experts and academics from across the food industry. The board governs how Red Tractor is run and helps us develop standards that are well-informed and relevant today.    

Alistair Mackintosh – Interim Chair

Alistair has a flock of 1,500 breeding ewes and a herd of 100 beef sucklers across 650 rented acres in Ravenglass, Cumbria. He is a strong supporter of Red Tractor and believes that a robust assurance scheme will give consumers confidence to buy British.

This is something he believes will become increasingly important for UK farming. He says farmers, stakeholders and trade associations must now work together to re-establish the core values of what the tractor stands for. Alistair believes this will ensure farmers don’t view farm assurance as a regulatory burden and instead see what it does for their businesses. 

David Exwood – Industry Director   

David is the NFU Deputy President. David farms south of Horsham in West Sussex with his wife and two sons over 1200 tenanted hectares in the heart of the Sussex Weald. Starting in 1989 with 70ha the business now has arable, dairy beef, Sussex suckler herd and sheep enterprises. In 2003 the Farm Shop opened and sells a wide range of food from the Victorian stable yard at Westons. David has served previously within the NFU as Branch Chair, West Sussex Council Delegate, South East Regional Chair as well as four years on Governance Board.

David was elected to the position of NFU Deputy President in February 2024.

Will Jackson – AHDB   

Will is AHDB’s Divisional Director for Engagement and Strategy. Will grew up on a dairy farm in Derbyshire. Prior to joining AHDB Beef & Lamb, he was Senior Agricultural Manager at Co-op, where he had responsibility for the beef, lamb and poultry accounts, along with experience of working on a day to day basis with farmers and retailers in the agriculture team at Arla Foods.

Dean Holroyd – Industry Director

Dean has spent over 35 years working within the Food manufacturing sector across various categories. For the past 10 years this has focussed on the Red Meat sector as ABP Food Group Technical and Sustainability Director working across all of the ABP divisions and geograhies. This role also encompasses elements of ABP’s agricultural activities including its UK Farm activities.

Dean also fulfils a number of industry wide posts as a director of the Food Industry Intelligence Network and co chairs the IGD’s Technical Directors Forum.

Sophie Throup – Industry Director   

Sophie represents the BRC and joined our board in June 2020. She has been with Wm Morrison plc since November 2017 and heads up Agriculture, Fisheries and Sustainable Sourcing.  

Sophie started at ASDA before taking time out on the family farm to have children. She joined Bishopton Veterinary Group in 2009. There she developed and managed RAFT Solutions Ltd with her colleagues which delivers livestock research and training. She also helped set up the government funded agri-tech centre, CIEL (Centre of Innovation Excellence in Livestock). Sophie is part of the steering committee for the IGD generated FIIA (Food Industry Initiative for Antimicrobials).    

John Pain – Independent Director   

John joined our board in January 2020. He has a degree in Agricultural Economics from Newcastle University and an MBA from the University of Leicester.  

John has worked with leading UK brands like Sainsbury’s, Nabisco, and Diageo, and joined KFC GB in 1994. He later became Marketing Director for Yum! and VP of Marketing at Taco Bell USA.  

In 2007, John returned to the UK as Marketing Director of the Compass Group UK & Ireland business. He later became MD for the Wendy’s Company APEMEA region. John is Vice Chairman of KFC Philippines and Chair of Governing Council at the Royal Agricultural University.   

Chris Goodwin – Independent Director   

Chris is a Chartered Certified Accountant and joined our board in December 2016.  He has held senior roles as a CFO and CEO in several industry sectors. Most recently, he was CFO of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, and previously CEO of the NFU’s commercial subsidiary. He now works as a non-executive director and business adviser for various organisations across the public and private sectors.   

James Russell – Independent Director   

James is a recognised leader of the veterinary profession, having held several roles within the British Veterinary Association and serving on the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England and appointed as an Assistant Clinical Professor for the University of Nottingham.  

For decades, he has worked closely with Red Tractor food producers, and has been recognised for his contribution in the commitment to the fight to eradicate Bovine Viral Diarrhoea and Bovine Tuberculosis. 

Professor Guy Poppy – Independent Director  

Professor Guy Poppy became the FSA’s Chief Scientific Adviser in 2014, he is also Professor of Food Security at Southampton University and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has research experience in food systems and food security and has advised governments globally on these issues.  

He has also published over 100 peer-reviewed papers including around risk assessment, risk analysis and risk communication. Guy is on the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) panel assessing the quality of agriculture, food and veterinary science in the UK. In June 2020, he became Programme Director for the SPF Food systems programme. In July 2022 he became Deputy Executive Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 

He is a graduate of Imperial College and Oxford University.

John Reed – Industry Director 

John is Agricultural Director for Avara Foods Limited, a joint venture between Faccenda Foods Limited and Cargill. In his early career he worked in Commercial Layer Management and was Regional Agricultural Manager for Eastwood/Imperial Group/Hillsdown Holdings. In 1991, John became Agricultural Director for Moorland Foods. He joined Sun Valley Foods/Cargill as Agricultural Director in 1998.

His achievements include a Nuffield Farm Scholarship, Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies and Chairman of the BPC. He joined our board in 2019. John has been involved in many Industry and Government Committees.  

He co-founded the Red Tractor Assurance Poultry Board British Poultry Training and Poultry Health & Welfare Board.

John Dracup – Beef & Lamb Sector Director

John joined our board in March 2022. He has more than 30 years of experience as an advocate and leader in British agriculture and the food processing industry.

In addition to running a successful beef and lamb family farming business in Devon, he has experience in pioneering electronic auctions and managing one of the largest beef and lamb processors’ livestock divisions and continues to hold the position of strategy director for The Royal Smithfield Club.

Tim Lock – Dairy Sector Director    

Tim joins Red Tractor with extensive experience in the dairy industry having previously held roles with the NFU National Dairy Board and has chaired the Chichester Branch of the NFU.

He ran a mixed family farming business in West-Sussex and brings a wealth of experience and understanding of the whole dairy sector to the role. Tim has also served as the chair of the M&S National Milk Pool.

Lucy MacLennan – Fresh Produce Sector Director  

Lucy has worked across the food industry, agriculture and fresh produce sector for over 25 years. She has helped improve the quality and safety of fresh produce for leading UK retailers like Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury’s. She has also worked extensively throughout their supply bases. Lucy is current Chief Executive Officer for the Organic Research Centre.

She is a Nuffield Scholar and has an MBA from Cranfield University, Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Agriculture from Nottingham University and a BSc (Hons) in Nutrition and Food Science from the University of Surrey. She is also undertaking research into the future of farm assurance and audit requirements.

Stewart Houston CBE, FRAgS – Pig  Sector Director  

Stewart has served as a non-exec member of the Food Standards Agency Board. He was also chair of the British Pig Executive and a member of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.  

In addition, he has been on the Scottish Agriculture College board and was Executive Director of the National Pig Association. He is today a non-exec member of Defra’s Animal Health and Welfare Board, England which advises ministers on policy. It is currently developing an Animal Health and Welfare Pathway.  

Iain Gardner – Poultry Sector Director   

After graduating from Edinburgh, Iain worked in the pig industry for five years before joining BOCM PAULS. He rose through the ranks and was part of the management buyout and later sale of the business to ForFarmers.  

For the past 17 years, he has worked at Executive or Group Board level.  After 30 years of working closely across the agricultural industry, he left his role as Chief Operating Officer in December 2017. In 2018, he became Chair of the BOCM PAULS defined benefit pension scheme.  Iain is also Chairman of the AF Group and Chair of the Notcutts defined benefit pension scheme. 

Kit Papworth – Combinable Crops and Sugar Beet Sector Director

Kit is a Norfolk-based, award-winning farmer and conservationist growing feed and seed wheat, malting barley, sugar beet, oilseed rape, vining peas and potatoes. He has held a number of chair and board roles within the agri-food sector, including Anglia Farmers (Now AF), AF Logic, Pensthorpe and the NFU Sugar Board.

Jim Moseley – Chief Executive

Jim started out at FMC Meat Ltd, then Europe’s largest meat group. His next move was to Wander Foods, where he launched sports drink Isostar in the UK.    

He later spent 12 years as Tulip’s Sales & Marketing Director, before becoming Managing Director of General Mills UK in 1999. There he handled brands like Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Green Giant and Nature Valley.  In 2015, he joined Mizkan Euro Ltd.   

Jim has chaired the Provision Trade Federation and was a Food Drink Europe board member. He’s also been both interim Director General and President of the Food & Drink Federation. 

Sector Boards and Technical Advisory Committees

Sector Boards 

The Red Tractor Assurance Sector Boards are responsible for overseeing the management of the Sector Schemes and their activities. They are made up of experts and representatives from the sector (see list below). Each sector also has a Technical Advisory Committee responsible for the on-going maintenance and development of Red Tractor Assurance standards.

Our sector board members are listed below:  

Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) 

Each Red Tractor Assurance sector has its own Technical Advisory Committee. TACs use their ability and experience to make recommendations to the sector board and help develop our standards. They also work to deliver the technical strategy and shape our vision and purpose. TAC members include farmers, retailers, NFU/AHDB representatives and other industry experts. 

TACs are responsible for: 

• Drafting and reviewing standards and guidance for farmers, assessors, and other interested parties  

• Staying in touch with industry to ensure they’re up to date and familiar with relevant technical innovation, developments, and challenges. 

Our sector TAC members are listed below: