Ask Red Tractor to improve standards to drive pesticide reduction

Red Tractor – the UK’s largest food standards label – is lagging behind on tackling pesticides, undermining claims that its logo is a marker of stronger environmental protection.

The Nature Friendly Farming Network, PAN UK and RSPB have identified a range of improvements that Red Tractor urgently needs to make, including better support for its certified farmers to reduce their pesticide use and adopt non-chemical alternatives.

If Red Tractor is willing to change then it could have a unique role to play in driving the transition to a more sustainable farming system that works with nature, instead of against it.

Email their CEO today and urge him to take action to strengthen Red Tractor standards in order to reduce pesticide-related harms to both human health and the environment.

Jim Moseley, CEO, Red Tractor

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Subject

I am deeply concerned that Red Tractor is not doing enough to encourage and support its certified farmers to reduce pesticide use and switch over to non-chemical alternatives. We are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis with wildlife populations plummeting. Pesticides are named as a key driver of insect and farmland species declines, and they threaten our pollinator populations, especially bees. Pesticides also pose a threat to the health of people like me who are eating the produce, and even more so to the farmers and agricultural workers applying these chemicals on a daily basis. I want to be confident that when I buy food with the Red Tractor logo I can rest assured that it has been grown in a sustainable way which best protects biodiversity, the environment and human health from harmful pesticides. To that end, I am asking you to urgently introduce a package of measures designed to reduce pesticide-related harms, including:
<ul>
<li>Better support for farmers to make continuous improvements on reducing pesticide use and adopting non-chemical alternatives.</li>
<li>More emphasis within the standards on preventing pest, weed and disease outbreaks before they occur, and non-chemical methods for managing them when necessary.</li>
<li>Restrictions on the use of pesticides that are particularly harmful to human health or the environment.</li>
<li>Establishment of targets aimed at reducing the total amount of pesticides used by certified farmers.</li>
</ul>
Farmers, the UK Government, supermarkets and their customers are increasingly focused on pesticide reduction, but Red Tractor is being left behind. This is such a missed opportunity – Red Tractor could have a key role to play in helping the UK to move towards a more sustainable farming system which works with nature, instead of against it. I’d be grateful if you could respond to this email to let me know what actions Red Tractor plans to take to help drive a reduction in pesticide use in the UK.

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