A TV ad for the Red Tractor scheme has been banned after an environmental group complained about the claim that its products were “farmed with care”.
The ad, seen in May 2023, used a voice-over stated in rhyme: “Farmed with care, that’s the Red Tractor way. A label to trust, found on food every day. This promise is kept by the checks put in place, to care for our animals with the right food and space.”
It continued: “Our cows have a health plan, and a personal vet, from field to store all our standards are met. When the Red Tractor’s there, your food’s farmed with care.”
The ad then showed an animated sequence of a person pushing a shopping trolley through a shop and then passing a flock of sheep and through the barn of a dairy herd.
River Action challenged whether the ad exaggerated the benefits of Red Tractor endorsement because they understood – based on reports from the Environment Agency – that some environmental standards relating to pollution on the scheme’s farms were not met.
Red Tractor told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that its standards applied primarily to farming, animal welfare and food traceability.
It said it did not consider the average consumer would understand that any of the claims made in the ad were references to the environment.
However it clarified that although environmental protection was not the primary focus of Red Tractor standards, a small number of them did serve to minimise and mitigate the risks of contamination and pollution.
To achieve this, farms that were part of the scheme had to store potential pollutants, including organic manure and silage, in a manner that minimised the risk of contamination and pollution to crops, animals, soil, groundwater and watercourses.
Between 2021 – when the most recent standards were introduced – and May 2023, Red Tractor confirmed that 5,747 of its “Assured” farms had had their membership suspended while actions were taken to comply with standards, and 474 members had their certification and membership withdrawn.
In relation to environmental non-conformances, 327 had been suspended and 123 withdrawn due to management of inputs or resources that were a pollution risk over the same period.
Red Tractor said River Action referred to a statistic cited by the Environment Agency, which stated that “62% of the most critical incidents (category 1 and 2), occur on Red Tractor farms”.
Red Tractor explained that this represented 250 incidents between 2014 and 2019 on a reported 59,013 of its farms used for the construction of the Environment Agency’s report.
Therefore, while 62% of incidents sounded high, Red Tractor believed that “in reality, it was a tiny percentage of farms (0.4%) over a significant time period.”
The ASA said the ad’s claims, together with its pastoral imagery, contributed to an impression that implied that Red Tractor sought to achieve “high levels of care, across the full journey over which food was produced”.
The watchdog said that at least a significant minority of those consumers would expect those standards to encompass measures to manage and mitigate environmental risk that arose through farming practices.
It found that “the evidence to demonstrate compliance with basic legislative standards and a good environmental outcome was in our view insufficient to substantiate, as at March 2023, the wider claim which “farmed with care … all our standards are met” conveyed.
“The ad was, therefore, likely to exaggerate the benefits of Red Tractor endorsement.”
The ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again in its current form, adding: “We told Red Tractor, when claiming ‘farmed with care’ in conjunction with ‘all our standards are met’ in advertising, to make clear exactly what standards they were referring to, and the degree to which they claimed that they were being met.”
River Action chairman and found Charles Watson said: “Red Tractor farms are polluting the UK’s rivers, and consumers trying to make environmentally responsible choices have been misled.
“This ASA ruling confirms what we’ve long argued: Red Tractor’s claims aren’t just misleading – they provide cover for farms breaking the law. The time has now come for our major food retailers to lay out credible plans as to how they will move away from this busted flush of a certification scheme and support farmers whose working practices are genuinely sustainable.
“Supermarkets and their suppliers now face serious reputational risk if they hide behind Red Tractor greenwash. By selling products linked to pollution, they deceive customers, undermine trust, and fail in their duty to ensure supply chains obey the law.”
Red Tractor chief executive Jim Moseley said: “We believe the ASA’s final decision is fundamentally flawed and misinterprets the content of our advert.
“The advert, which is now almost five years old, was last broadcast in 2023 and focused on Red Tractor’s standards for traceability, food safety and animal welfare. It made no environmental claim, and we completely disagree with the assumption that it would have been misinterpreted by consumers.”
