Red Tractor Accreditation

To be accredited by Red Tractor, farmers must meet a number of requirements, including:

• Animal welfare Farmers must ensure the health and welfare of their animals. For example, cattle must have a UK passport and two tags within 20 days of birth.
• Food safety Farmers must ensure the safety of their food. For example, they must have a farm biosecurity policy to prevent the spread of disease.
• Traceability Farmers must ensure their products can be traced back to the farm. For example, fresh produce must be clearly identified throughout the supply chain.
• Environmental care Farmers must manage their use of agrochemicals and fertilizers to care for the environment. They must also minimize their impact on biodiversity and conservation.
• Housing Farmers must ensure their animals have safe, comfortable, and hygienic housing.
• Diet Farmers must ensure their animals receive a full, healthy diet.
• Residency Beef must be held on the farm for at least 90 days and sheep for at least 60 days before they can be sold as farm assured.

Farmers who meet the requirements will be entered as "Assured" on the Scheme Member Checker database. They will be invited to renew their membership annually, and will be subject to regular assessments to ensure they continue to meet the standards.

It is compulsory for all Red Tractor dairy, beef and lamb members to have a written annual health and performance review undertaken by a vet. 

This means: 

• We have to have visited your farm and seen the stock at least annually.
• We will need to review your records and data. Data regarding disease and mortality are especially useful to aid us in seeing where improvements can be made.
• Review antibiotic usage data. Red Tractor want to help see if we can reduce the need for antibiotics by reducing disease from occurring in the first place. This is especially true of prophylactic (blanket) treatment of stock. 

Templates are available for data collection on the Red Tractor website but we have also added some of the most common ones below. Please ensure you inform us in plenty of time when your annual review is due as this takes time for our vets to review and a charge will be applicable for the review.

More information available here: redtractorassurance.org.uk