UK Farm Assurance Review latest updates

A review of farm to fork assurance schemes across the industry is currently underway.

The independent review has been jointly commissioned by the National Farmers' Union (NFU) and AHDB, along with NFU Cymru, The Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) and NFU Scotland (NFUS), who will all form part of the Assurance Review steering group, which has overall responsibility for its delivery.

The industry-wide Assurance Review is focused on repurposing assurance in a post-Brexit world.

It aims to seek feedback from all farmers, crofters and growers about all farm assurance schemes with a view to revolutionising farm to fork assurance, making it truly fit for the future.

The review will examine

• How farm assurance can deliver value back to scheme members
• How standards are developed to meet the evolving needs of members, the markets they serve, sector diversity and in appreciation of the global marketplace
• How assurance members are engaged with (including the development of standards), inspected and how technology is used in assurance now and in future
• How assurance schemes can and should fit with regulation and government schemes to best serve members

The group will have four commissioners who will be responsible for setting the terms of reference and a timeline to ensure the process provides clear outcomes to the industry.

Three Commissioners have now been appointed to undertake the review and they are:

• Dr David Llewellyn CBE (lead commissioner) – former Vice Chancellor of Harper Adams University
• James Withers – former Chief Executive Officer of Scotland Food and Drink
• Mark Suthern – Chairman of Trustees of the Farming Community Network (FCN)

A fourth commissioner will be confirmed in due course.

The commission’s first task will be to appoint a secretariat to support the work of the review, co-ordinate industry engagement and write the final report. Any organisations interested in knowing more about the secretariat function should contact james.osman@nfu.org.uk.

The commission has reinforced the need for good industry engagement as well as transparency throughout this process and as such will be setting out detailed plans in the coming weeks. This will likely include face-to-face engagement at key industry events, a survey and a consultation process.