Red Tractor celebration marks Harvest Festival

The Farmers Club Harvest Festival was held last week at St Martins Church in Trafalgar Square. The event was organised by The Farmers Club and St Martin-in-the-Fields, with support from the Red Tractor food assurance scheme and tractor maker AGCO.

“Its not often you see a brand new hi-tech tractor in central London, but we wanted to highlight the tremendous contribution British farmers are making to providing the nation with safe, affordable, wholesome food, produced sustainably and to the highest welfare standards,” comments Cumbrian farmer Nicki Quayle, the first ever female chairman of The Farmers Club.

David Clarke, CEO of Red Tractor, adds: This years Harvest Festival was a great opportunity for Red Tractor to team up with The Farmers Club to celebrate great food and farming. The Red Tractor scheme is a vital part of the UK farming industry, with 78,000 farmers committed to ensuring high standards of animal welfare, environmental protection and food safety.

St Martin in the Fields Reverend Nicholas Holtam led the Harvest Festival service, which featured an address from the Rt. Revd. Dr Anthony Russell, former Bishop of Ely.

Farmers Club members provided decoration inside the church, including bunches of oilseed rape, sugar beet and bags of sugar, apples, eggs, loaves and bags of flour, plus cheeses from around the UK. The event was also supported by equipment-maker AGCO, which supplied a big Massey Ferguson red tractor for the photocall.

• Red Tractor helps demonstrate the high standards followed by producers and gives consumers the assurance they need that the food they are buying meets strict standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection with a guarantee of origin.
• The flag in the Red Tractor logo guarantees the origin of the food. So the Union Jack flag tells you that the product has been farmed, processed and packed in the UK.
• The Red Tractor logo provides transparency for consumers and differentiates quality assured products.
• Red Tractor standards are maintained all the way from farm to pack.  All Red Tractor farmers, processors and packers are regularly inspected by independent experts who conduct thousands of audits each year offering consumers total transparency and traceability.
• AFS is owned by all links in the UK food chain from farmers to retailers.
•  The Board of AFS includes respected scientists, prominent academics and experienced professionals from the fields of veterinary science, farming, animal welfare, food processing, retailing and trading standards.
• The Red Tractor logo now features on products with an annual retail sales value of 10 billion. All major retailers and more than 500 leading companies use the logo.
• The Red Tractor scheme was launched in 2000 bringing together producers, processors and retailers in a whole chain assurance scheme with a guarantee of origin that has gone from strength to strength. Red Tractor represents a unique and holistic assurance of quality production from farm to outlet. The comprehensive range of standards cover the production of chicken, pork, lamb, beef, turkey, fruit, vegetables, salad, flour, cereals, dairy products and drinks such as beer.
• Standards for all sectors (e.g. chicken, dairy, vegetables etc.) have been developed and are regularly revised by some of the top industry experts to ensure that food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards are maintained and continually reflect consumer demand.
•  For Food businesses, Red Tractor reinforces their messaging to customers about the importance of assured quality, traceable, food that meets high standards of due diligence.
• For more information on Red Tractor and details on how to join the scheme, please visit www.redtractor.org.uk.