Dairy Crisis Update - 20/7/2012

Dairy Crisis Update - 20/7/2012

A message from the NFU President (Peter Kendall) congratulates the farmers and supporters "who have shown support to our campaign to back British dairy farmers" . The full message can be found here. He expands on how the issue's profile has been raised in the consumer's eye, the NFU images of the milk protests (see below) have been used nearly 18,000 times and versions of this poster can be found here. 

The higher echelons of the NFU have been meeting with the various supermarkets and the milk processors and Peter Kendall continues in his message to state:  

"We are continuing our negotiations to get a satisfactory voluntary code on dairy contracts. Dairy Crest’s announcement that it is proposing to move to a 3 month termination date in supply contracts is a good step forward, although there are strings attached."

And he continues to state:

"Over the summer we want you all to lobby your MPs to bring in legislation on dairy contracts. We have legal advice that Jim Paice is mistaken in his view that EU legislation prevents us from having national regulations with the kind of provisions we would want; we will share this with you, with some briefing on lobbying MPs, later this week.

We hope that the retailers, food businesses and processors who are behind the crisis which dairy farmers face do meet this August 1st deadline in the face of such public pressure. If they do not then I will look to count on your support on August 2nd. Further details will follow but any action we support will be peaceful, legal but very visible."

In other areas, a French cartoon was reprinted on Facebook that shows the basic fact that the farmers get less than the milk processors.

Farmers for Action published their new for today by thanking

• Heather Morse of/and  Cowindale Feeds, Carmarthen  for laying on and paying for the coaches from West Wales last night.  Thats whats it all about, everybody involved in the industry pulling together. Thank you very much Cowindale Feeds.
• Highlighting ITV Daybreak for yet another ill informed MP regarding farm subsidy, as we all know dairy farmers do not receive a direct farm subsidy, it is linked to the land. I'm sure she will be educated in the coming days and weeks. 
• What a brilliant, well organised  protest last night at three venues.  Our FFA co-ordinators did a fantastic job, the guys down in the SW headed by James Badman together with Mark Evans  had well over 70 tractors plus foragers - Nigel Batten brought 2 coach loads from West Wales, so pleased that their long journey well worth it.  Yorkshire headed by Stephen Franklin also had a great turnout as did Andrew Hemmings and Tom Houghton in Ashby. 
• And at last got the eye of the media,  sure there are many who did'nt get much sleep, if any,last night.   Now we can pump it up, more venues to be visited in following days. Watch the Farmers 4 action website join in interactive chat on  Twitter: @farmers4action and also our Facebook page: farmers for action.  We all know we have got to win this one.

A couple of stories in the news highlight the lengths the diary farmers are willing to go:

• Hundreds of farmers blockaded milk plants into the early hours in protest at the price supermarkets pay for milk. The farmers - angry at cuts of up to 2p a litre - blocked deliveries with their tractors at plants in Somerset, Leicestershire and Yorkshire. More of this article can be found here.

• Hundreds of households will wake up to free milk delivered in secret by farmers campaigning for fairer milk prices. Scotland's "Dairy Godmother" will deliver a free pint of milk to 300 homes in the Edinburgh area early on Friday morning (20 July). More of the article can be found here. Thanks to Supermarkets: Stop Forcing Farmers Out of Business - Be Fair for highlighting this story.

St. Swithin's Day - 15th of July 2012

The 15th of July in any year is known as St. Swithin's (or Swithun's as the original is supposed to have been) Day after the 9th century Bishop of Winchester. It is said that the Bishop asked to be buried, whilst uttering a last request on his death bed, outside of the cathedral in a simple tomb not within the cathedral - "where the sweet rain of heaven may fall upon my grave". This was done when he died in 862 AD (CE). But Bishop Aethelwold decided to rebury Bishop Swithun, after his canonistaion, within the cathedral and whilst his remains were about to be transferred with great pomp and ceremony on the 15h of July 971 AD (CE) - a great storm that continued for about 40 days broke the previous weeks of drought and ruined the ceremony. His remains were left outside.

It is from this account that led to the rhyme that follows:

"St. Swithin's day, if ye do rain,
For forty days it will remain;
St. Swithin's day, if ye be fair,
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair."

Unfortunately, this piece of history can neither be backed up by historical data or by weather statistics so says the Meteorological Office in this posting. Since the start of records in 1861, there have been no periods of either forty dry or wet days following the 14th of July.

The Met Office has recently published a post that describes the reason for the wet weather that has delayed or cancelled many of the summer's outside events - "Our weather here in the UK is complex and determined by many different factors, including the position of the jet stream (a narrow band of fast moving winds which runs from west to east across the Atlantic high up in the atmosphere)." The post continues to state that the "low pressure systems bearing rain and unsettled conditions move across the Atlantic on a regular basis" that are guided by the jet stream that would normally be north of the UK giving us relatively settled weather. But "this year it has been to the south of the UK, guiding those systems straight to us. This is the position we’d normally expect the jet stream to be in during winter, when we are more accustomed to these wet conditions." The Met Office gives a few reasons as to why there has been this persistence on the jet stream being south of the UK, so have a look at their blog post.

The Met Office has also published a list of locations in the UK that have had over 100% of their average July rainfall, the Isle of Portland has had over 250% already. 

If you are unlucky to live in an area that has had flooding or is about to flood (you can check on an interactive flood map by Shooter Hill and the EA), the Environment Agency has prepared notes on how to prepare your property for a flood from either river or groundwater, both these leaflets can be found here.

Dairy Crisis Update - 13th of July 2012 - what can you do?

So as we gather on the 13th of July 2012, or Friday the 13th, some of the blog readers have asked what can be done? This advice is by no means definitive but only from what I have read online and from the twitter stream of @eurolinkseas. I did ask a question on my twitter feed:

"Now that public is getting behind #sosdairy, @NFUSouthEast @FARMERS4ACTION @FarmersWeekly @FarmersGuardian what do we tell them to do?"

I have yet to hear from any of them, but they are all busy.

So onto the advice...

• The NFU tweet is "Here's our poster in case you haven't seen it yet - It's time to back our dairy farmers ! #SOSdairy (Please click on the link)

•  Olivia Midgley (@FGoliviamidgley) from The Farmer's Guardian reports that "Scotland lays down dairy SOS action plan" here "@RichardLochhead @NFUStweets #sosdairy " - she continues in her article that the Scottish Government unveiled a 5 point action plan on the 12th of July and Rural Affairs minister Richard Lochead also called for his Welsh and English counterparts to meet up before Royal Welsh Show. The five points are as follows:
• Ministerial Summit
• Agree on a voluntary code of practice
• Demand clarity from the retailers for the consumers about how much the producers receive.
• Long term strategic report needed for where the dairy sector is going in the next 10 years and how it will get there.
• Ensure that the Scottish Agriculutural Organisation Society have sufficient resources to speed up the work on producer organisations and co-operatives. 
• More information can be found at the Farmer's Guardian Dairy Crisis micro-site that is found here.
• ‏@FARMERS4ACTION report that the e petition has 10,745 signatures at quarter to five on Friday afternoon with 134 signed in the last hour. If you haven't signed it, this is another thing that you can do. 
• Johann Tasker of the Farmer's Weekly writes about how the RSPCA backs farmers on milk prices (by me 4 @FarmersWeekly) he writes, "The RSPCA is urging shoppers to avoid cut-price milk sold by supermarkets, warning that it could have a knock-on effect on cow welfare" more can be read at Johann's article found here.  #SOSdairy
• So if you wish to do something, when choosing to buy your milk and other dairy products, look for either your local dairy and support the local shop or when buying from a supermarket choose the ones who support the dairy sector - these are M&S, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose are praised for paying above the cost of production.
• The Farmer's Weekly have a dedicated micro website for the dairy crisis and this can be found here. 
•  Alistair Driver from the Farmer's Guardian reports in his blog that Jim Paice MP was ridiculed publicly but #SOSdairy lines up bigger targets for August, have a read of Alistair's blog if you didn't catch the summary.

What else can you do:

• Follow the  #SOSdairy on comments in Twitter.
• Print off the poster prints from the NFU and stick on a car window if it doesn't obliterate the driver's vision or put it up on your wall on Facebook, the print can be found here - 
• Buy your milk from local dairies or from M&S, Sainsburys, Tesco, or Waitrose.
• Write to your MP, the dairy produce processor and the supermarkets - the Farmer's Guardian does a very good page on what to write and who to write to but you may have to give your email and subscribe (freely, I think), the page link can be found here.

Have a good rest of the Friday the 13th.

Game Fair 2012 Cancelled

The CLA (Country Land & Business Association) website has published a notice with respect to the Game Fair:

It is with great regret that we need to tell you that the CLA Game Fair 2012 has been cancelled due to adverse weather and ground conditions.

We were forecast 36 hours of drying conditions, which we have had. We hoped that this would have been enough to dry out the waterlogged ground. Unfortunately, the benefit has been negligible and as such it would prove impossible to allow the 3,000-4,000 vehicle movements still required to complete the remainder of the show build.

Every effort has been made over the past few weeks to protect the integrity of the ground to enable the event to go ahead.  The weather forecast is predicting significant further rainfall in the next 48 hours. The situation looks set to only deteriorate from this point on.

This knowledge combined with increased health and safety risks during the build and for the public during the three days of the CLA Game Fair has led us to the point where we do not believe we can deliver the show.

Unfortunately we have had no option but to take the sad decision that this year's CLA Game Fair cannot go ahead.

Please bear with us through this challenging time.

The event site is now closed due to ground conditions

For all general enquiries please call: 0845 612 2052

 More information can be found here

Our thoughts go to the CLA and all those involved with the Game Fair.

Dairy Crisis Update - 11th of July 2012

Not an exhaustive summary of the information from the Dairy Crisis Summit - 11th of July 2012. The information below is taken from my Facebook account, the Twitter stream of @Eurolinkseas and linked publications.

 

We pay more for a bottle of water than a pint of milk. Stop UK dairy farmers becoming extinct by supporting fair UK trade #sosdairy

The summit is packed and overflowing with dairy farmers... therefore a short delay to the start of the meeting while we find rooms for people

Only 22% of people know the price of milk - you're in the majority, Meurig quips to farm minister Jim Paice #sosdairy

One farmer's story is highlighted here - http://www.farmersguardian.com/news/livestock/dairy-farmers-descend-on-london-united-in-protest/48248.article #sosdairy

Sainsburys, Tesco, M&S and Waitrose praised for paying above the cost of production #sosdair 

Asda, Morrisons and the Co-op pointed out by Meurig for paying below the cost of production #sosdairy  

The above photo shows Nick Everington of @theRABDF explaining who gets the cream from your milk.

A clearer picture of the previous photo, with thanks to Twitter and Malc Parr ‏@tractorman07

and @peter_levy "I'm not a dairy farmer but think this picture sums up the problem of milk and food in general."

Retailers must stop buying milk from processors who pay less than the costs of production to dairy farmers - MR #sosdairy




We want consumers to ask those that are buying the milk: Are you paying a fair price? #sosdairy 

"The buy one get one free government" #SOSDairy


Turning grass into milk - a BBC report - and lose money doing it.


‎"I believe the dairy industry has a huge amount to offer the British economy" - Jim Paice #sosdairy


Minister Jim Paice: Voluntary Code of Practice better than compulsory contract under EU reg. Also gives chance for review. 
But he is now being heckled...#sosdairy

Jim Paice has just made himself very unpopular. Questioning that dairy farmers have not done enough to control their input costs! #sosdairy


Jim Paice asks 'Are you sure, you have done everything to reduce production costs?', the comment was not popular #sosdairy

Jim Paice - every part of dairy chain has responsibility to take advantage of opportunities #sosdairy

FLASH: Jim Paice confirms that government will "make money available" to help farmers create producer organisations. #SOSdairy

Wisemans p'ship(?) board member says must negotiate fair price and set minimum or less responsible retailers will depress price #SOSdairy

Derbyshire's Barry Smith, agriculture is the life and soul of this country. If it is doing badly the whole country is doing badly #sosdairy

#SOSdairy Questions - why does Germany have 190 producer organisations and we have how many? Are we missing a trick and profit?

Scottish view: If you're not happy resign from your processor and don't sign any more silly contracts. #SOSdairy

#SOSdairy Don't sign with a processor who does not adhere to code of practice.

Farm minister Jim Paice: voluntary code means can't set statutory minimum price. Can't answer questions on retailer margins but supermarkets are taking bigger and bigger shares.

"It isn't going to happen overnight," Jim Paice tells farmer who asked how long he would have to work all hours. But hopes today could speed things along

#SOSdairy W Sussex #NFU's Gwyn Jones: least you can do is legislate immediately unless this vol code is sorted very soon - hours not days

Huge cheer for Gwyn Jones as he attacks dairy execs and compares events in banking sector with those in dairy industry. #sosdairy

"How do you want to be remembered Minister? As the doctor who made things better (in #ag) or the undertaker?" #SOSDairy

Minister challenged on timescale for code, reminded that code is a great start but will it deliver Code of Practice at least? #sosdairy

#SOSdairy Minister Jim Paice: committed to consult chain on EU dairy package and power to impose compulsory contracts, but not his preferred option

#SOSdairy Jim Paice says content of vol code up to farmers, price mechanism will be part of it, groups of farmers should work together

VIDEO: Farmers explain what they hope to achieve from attending milk summit #sosdairy

#SOSdairy William Westacott from #Kent - we have 20 days, we need some guidance on how to reverse these cuts

View from floor: we must convince the consumer to back the farmer. Praise for dedicated contracts #SOSdairy

Many views - but farmers mean business. what sanctions will be imposed on processors and retailers if code not agreed? #SOSdairy

#SOSdairy Trending HIGH in the UK. People do care where the milk for there brew comes from! Good news! Keep caring!

Family dairy farmer from #Devon thanks #NFU for organising and challenges Minister to toughen the code asap

Question from the floor: where is the representative of the supermarkets today? #sosdairy

Minister Jim Paice: Voluntary code must happen soon. Will consult on compulsory code in EU package, allowing Purchasing Organistaions to have 1/3 of production in member state

Meurig Raymond thanks 2,500 for giving strong message to retailers, processors and consumers. We cannot afford to lose UK industry #SOSdairy

M Raymond: #NFU will do all it can to reverse cuts and will leave no stone unturned. Reps must take this message back to processors.

M Raymond hopes the "Voluntary Code can come soon but reserves the right to demand legislation. Urges folk to sign Producer Organisation forms #SOSdairy

Red Tractor Dairy farmer's across the UK, gather at Westminster today to demand a fairer price for milk. Ensure you support them by looking out for the Red Tractor logo with the Union Jack on your milk, cheese, cream and yogurts!

The Speech by Meurig Raymond at Dairy Summit 11th July 2012 can be found here.  

Farmer's Weekly have a gallery from the day's proceedings here.

@FARMERS4ACTION

Disappointed that attendees at Summit not invited to question panel and no concrete plans for 1 Aug

Paice under fire as industry unites in anger | News | Farmers Guardian: http://bit.ly/O6Df3J #sosdairy

Thanks to all the people and groups I follow on Twitter, these can be found here.

Dairy Crisis Update - 9th of July 2012

A quick update on what has happened with the dairy crisis since the last update or updates I missed the first time around:

Sainsburys - the supermarket has published on their website - a press release that explained why they had increased the price per litre (ppl). Sainsbury's, from the 1st of July 2012, increased "the price paid to British dairy farmers through the sustainable Cost of Production (COP) model" to 30.56 ppl.

The Sainsbury's Dairy Development Group (SDDG) rewards farmers for outstanding animal welfare and environmental standards as well as 'a quarterly review of feed, fuel and fertiliser" and "the COP milk price changes to reflect these varying costs to ensure a fair deal for the 324 farmers" who are int the Sainsbury's scheme.

On the 6th of July, Sainsbury's published a further press release that listed three points for backing a fair price for British dairy farmers - these are:

1. Customers expect farmers to be paid a fair price
2. Paying a price above the cost of production is vital for the long term sustainability of the dairy industry
3. Sainsbury's Dairy Development Group (SDDG) farmers are incentivised for animal welfare and environmental excellence 

My last posting on this current dairy crisis described that The National Farmer's Union was going to hold an emergency meeting. The location and date has been decided:

Emergency London Dairy Summit and Demonstration
Wednesday July 11
Central Hall, Westminster, Storey’s Gate, London SW1H 9NH 

12.30pm – 3.30pm 

The NFU has also created a Facebook page The Milkman Always Delivers for those who embrace social media and if you wish to post about the dairy crisis on Twitter, you are asked to add the hashtag title: #sosmilk. 

There is another Facebook site entitled SUPERMARKETS: Stop forcing British Dairy Farming out of business - Be Fair! and has a few more members, at present, than the previously mentioned page.

It will be interesting to see what else comes out today and the next few days before the meeting. 

Farmer's markets - part two

Yesterday, Saturday the seventh of July 2012, I was asked by a cherry farmer's wife to give them a hand at a local farmer's market in Kent. The farmers' market at Penshurst Place has around 20 stalls  selling an assortment of free range meats including vension, locally baked bread, fresh fruit from a local farm shops, barbecued meat, cheeses, chutneys and many other foodstuffs as well as items for the garden that can be planted that day.

For those that don't know Penshurst Place is the family home of the Viscount De L'Isle, which was once owned by Henry VIII, is situated in the West Kent village of Penshurst that lies between two rivers. The village website lists a range of 14 activities and boasts "lovely old timber-framed buildings and converted oast houses" and "traditions such as cricket, still played on one of England's oldest pitches, and the annual village fair are still very much of he community today".

It has been a while since I have been to a farmer's market and I was surprised by the cross-section of the consumers. Both old and young, some with families and push-chairs in tow. I asked, as a way of enticing the customers to stop at our stall of freshly ripe cherries, where they had come from - answers ranged from Penshurst Place itself, the village as well as other local villages in West Kent, the other side of the Dartford Tunnel, Blackheath, even Hong Kong and Australia (although I feel these last two may have been visiting local families).

Penshurst Place Farmers Market has 20 stalls selling free range meats; bread baked locally that morning;  cherries from Sandhurst; fresh soft fruit from Groombridge; soft fruit from Maidstone; a wide range of locally produced produce.

It was good to meet up with Ben Dent who is part of The Kent Farmer's Markets Association, as well as being a member of Eurolink, and meet up with a few of the local producers. Thank you for a good, if tiring, day.

Dairy Crisis Update - 6th of July 2012

An article from the FWi website records that the Farm Minister Jim Paice MP said that he was a proposed to get processors and the industry to find a future for the dairy industry. During Defra Parliamentary question time,  Mr. Paice MP said "I am concerned, but ministers can't set prices" and continued to say that Defra would hold "a consultation on a compulsory dairy package put forward by the European Union".

Mr. Paice MP said that the "Processors also needed to target growing dairy markets in countries like China so they could do more to support British producers and avoid having to make price cuts".

It is stated by FWi that the latest cuts to the dairy industry would slash as much as £50,000 off the average dairy farm income.

Comments from Dairy Farmers can be seen here.

A video of the meeting at Staffordshire Show Ground and comments from Dairy Farmers can be seen here:

I received a text from the NFU, it reads "Important message to NFU members: I want to give you the heads up that next Wednesday the NFU is holding a large meeting in London to highlight the devastation dairy farmers face due to the recent and proposed price cuts. I hope many farmers in more fortunate sectors than dairy will show support. Please contact your regional office for details on how you could help with support on the day. Many thanks, Peter Kendall"

A link to the regional office for the NFU can be found here. The Farmers Guardian reports that the event is, indeed, taking place on Wednesday with  "exact timing and venue are yet to be finalised. 
Farmers will be invited to turn up in large numbers to demonstrate to politicians, the food chain and the wider public the strength of feeling over the price cuts imposed in the past week by the major UK milk buyers". The article continues to report that the "NFU president  Peter Kendall said the union was planning to stage a ‘very large gathering’ in London next week to raise the profile of the crisis.
“I have never known in all my time in the NFU such strength of feeling and anger among our members,”".


More information to come when it is published and keep an eye on the Farmers Guardian, the Farmers Weekly, the NFU and Ian Potter Associates. There is also a new Facebook page that has arisen in the last day.

Farming in the media - part three

In the third part of our "Farming in the media" series, we examine the concept of viral videos to further highlight the rigours of farming.

The concept of a viral video became named in 2009, although these forms of videos that were shared between friends and work colleagues started in around 1995, do you remember the Dancing Baby videos? The idea of the video is to gain an immediate hit with the viewer and less focus on the advertiser, so that the video gets passed like a 'virus'.

In 2009, Samsung, launched their range of smart LED technology with a YouTube clip of sheep on a Welsh hillside creating assorted works of art. The low tech filming worked with the audience and the video gained an audience of 4 million just after one week. It had risen to over 200,000 views. With three or four videos of varying lengths, one version of Samsung's glowing sheep can be viewed below:

 In 2011, the producers of Yeo Valley produced an advert that spanned both the viral video community and entered into the charts on iTunes, a music site from Apple computers. The ad agency BBH (Bartle Bogel and Hegarty) released the advert within an advert break of the X-Factor. The advert included young people of the X-Factor demographic, singing (also a part of the X-Factor show) as well as being shot on location in Somerset whilst including agricultural, conservation and environmental keywords were inserted within the rap.

The Yeo Valley viral video, under the guidance of BBH, goes further as it links further sites of social networking as the blog from Tamsin Fox Davies explains. The initial video had the ingredients of the viral video, as listed by Tamsin Fox Davies, being catchy, cool, funny, good production values, informative, relevant and targeted to the audience. It wants you to find out more and it even shows you where to get it. So how did the Yeo Valley extend its social network experience, I urge you to the look at the aforementioned blog, but in summary - BBH created a YouTube spoof (entitled Yeo Tube) site with more Yeo Valley videos, a Facebook page with a singing competition (extending the X-Factor targeting), a Twitter account, an iTunes download of the original song and finally an official website.

The blog by Real Business gets down to the brass tacks of the campaign by asking what was the return on the investment of the advert. The details, below were written on the 31st of March 2011, showed that "brand awareness had increased by 71%" and approximately "half a million more households in the UK brought our products in the 12 weeks to December 2010" and Yeo Valley's  retail value increased by "14.9% year on year outperforming the rest of the yoghurt market by more than 2.5 times". 

So should advertisers create more country-friendly to create a better informed idea of what the countryside is and does? Do these two examples of viral videos that advertise both food and non food products show a good view of the country? Do you know of any similar campaigns that farming and rural enterprises have used social networks in their advertising campaigns? I await your thoughts...

Is Great Britain in a dairy crisis?

It can be said that the dairy farms and their industry has contributed to the green fields image of the British countryside and the industry is a major player in Britain's industrial profile. The National Farmer's Union (NFU) records "12,500 dairy farmers in Great Britain, milking 1.56 million dairy cows and producing more than 11.5 billion litres of raw milk".

The Farmers Weekly reported that over 500 milk producers "heard calls for direct action over dairy prices during a heated meeting at the Staffordshire Showground on Wednesday (4 July)" at Staffordshire Showground after four major dairy and milk processors dropped the milk price up to 2 pence per litre. Ian Potter Associates has reported that the proposed price increase of 0.26 pence per litre for suppliers of liquid milk to Sainsburys from the 1st of July and it also reported the proposed decreases (from the 1st of August) of 1.65 pence per litre from Dairy Crest/DCD liquid suppliers and 2 pence per litre from Arla/AFMP suppliers.

On the fifth of July, a meeting is to take place between the NFU president, Peter Kendall, and Farmers for Action chairman, David Handley, to solve the current problems that are crippling today's dairy industry. The NFU reports that these problems include the latest round of price cuts from Robert Wiseman Dairies, Arla Foods UK and Dairy Crest.

The Grocery Industry Trade Communications site records 50 dairies, milk, yoghurt and egg manufacturers and suppliers.

The Farmers for Action group report today (5/7/2012) that "all milk processors to reinstate all price cuts that have taken place since 1st of April 2012" and "They have until 1 August 2012 to confirm that this will be done, if not they will need to notify their retail customers that milk distribution will be seriously disrupted." These proposed milk prices and potential action may have short term effects for the Olympic Games and long term effects for the consumer and the milk producers.

London Business Network records that the Olympic Village for London 2012 will require 75,000 litres of milk and reports that "London 2012 is committed to being the most sustainable Games to date.  Their Food Vision reflects this policy in a number of ways, in particular around product sourcing standards and waste management procedures. All food sourced will be required to meet benchmark standards which include Red Tractor Assured, Lion Mark free range, RSPCA Freedom Food Certified, Fairtrade and British where applicable.  London 2012 has also set aspirational standards, such as LEAF Marque and Organic, which it hopes to achieve where these are available and affordable." 

Please let me know your thoughts whether you are a producer or a consumer of milk and milk-related products.

Farming in the media - part two

Waitrose, the supermarket, has recently reaffirmed their consumer friendliness with its sources of their meat. The first part was to create an advert that shows not only the farmer, but the product - the pig - and then ultimately the chef, all in the same advert.

 
But with American Independence Day, Waitrose pull out even more of the stops to assuage the consumer's guilt. An article in the Farmer's Guardian by Olivia Midgley, from June 2012, wrote:

"To further highlight its commitment to pig welfare and informing customers where their food comes from, the supermarket will introduce Quick Response (QR) codes to its own label products for the first time from July 4. The QR codes will appear on own label pork, sausages, bacon and gammon as well as on shelf-edge barkers. Shoppers will be able to scan the codes with their smartphones to get an insight into the welfare conditions of pigs farms and information about the farmers responsible for rearing them - as well as recipes and cooking tips."

 
This seems to be pushing the consumer towards a more readily available form of ethical shopping. Does anyone else know of this form of behaviour by the producer and the supermarkets?

Farming in the media - part one

As we start to come into the early throws of harvesting - I am talking more of the soft and top fruit than the more obvious combineable crop that you see along in the fields from the roadside - maybe it is time for this blog to focus on the marketing side of farming.

The Red Tractor with the tractor made with the upper case letter F turned through 90 degrees anti-clockwise was first used in 2000 by the National Farmer's Union as a sign of quality and the provenance of the food as well as creating a form of confidence for the shopper. It is a sign that guarantees quality, safe food that is good to eat. The reasons for choosing products that exhibit the Red Tractor include food hygiene, animal welfare, protection of the environment, food origins, rigorous standards, traceability, independence and integrity - greater details of these values can be found here and here.

The success of the Red Tractor as a marketing tool is described in an article by The Grocer (Michael Baker), May 2010 - the recognition of the logo has moved from 30% (2008) to 55% (2010) and is seen with the similar recognition as other logos like Fairtrade, Lion Eggs, MSC and Soil Association.

A more recent (April 2012) article by Isabel Davies for the Farmers Weekly Interactive reviewed a survey for the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board. 2,169 shoppers were questioned with 1,558 being primary shoppers. 64% were influenced by the Red Tractor logo, this was a 9% increase on 2011. 33% of the shopper interviewed referenced "food safety and traceability", which is what the Red Tractor logo helps the consumer to identify.

Have you found as a consumer or a producer that the Red Tractor has been a benefit to you?