The chief executive of Red Tractor Assurance has told Devon famers that the scheme can play a huge role in putting British food on the front foot.

Speaking at the NFU’s Devon AGM, Jim Moseley said 75% of food produced in the UK was to the scheme’s standards which added provenance, traceability and safety assurances.

More than £14bn of food carries the Red Tractor logo, and about 70,000 farm businesses are in membership.

Mr Moseley said the scheme already delivers solutions to many of the challenges that exist in an unpredictable environment.

“If we see more cheap, imported food coming in to the UK post-Brexit it would be a significant threat to our members. Similarly, we need to instil confidence in our product in international markets,” he said.

“Meanwhile, there is the need to satisfy domestic consumer demand for food which has been produced to standards of high animal welfare with strong credentials in areas such as antibiotic use and environmental protection. Red Tractor food does all these things and more.”

Mr Moseley told the meeting that the Red Tractor scheme was potentially, “the best kept secret weapon in the armoury of British food and farming” and that it needed to be repositioned to increase understanding of what it delivered.

“Our goal is to move Red Tractor from the position of a kite mark indicating food safety and traceability to a flagship for British food and farming.”

He said this would require a sustained campaign to increase consumer understanding of what the scheme means, as well as developing loyalty to product bearing the logo.

Increasing the use of the logo among retailers, foodservice operators and brands is also a constituent part of the next phase of the scheme’s development.

“Being ‘British’ is not enough. The scheme needs to continue to be underpinned by a robust set of standards which are independently checked,” Mr Moseley added.

“Our consumer research clearly shows a need for the scheme to become a flagship for our farming industry with world class standards, independent inspection and robust compliance at its core.”