Memorandum submitted by Banks Cargill
Agriculture (Z10)
Banks Cargill Agriculture has been a positive
supporter of the Voluntary Initiative (VI) since its inception.
We believe that the faith placed in the scheme is already paying
off.
Banks Cargill's involvement in UK Agriculture
is committed and wide-ranging. Not only are we one of the largest
buyers of combinable crops, but we have a significant involvement
in agronomy advice and supply as well as contract application.
The overall standards and performance of British
Agriculture are equal to anywhere else in the world. But the UK
is a crowded island with many demands on the landscape and natural
resources. Agriculture must therefore be prepared to meet the
reasonable and responsible requirements placed on it by public
opinion and the VI is a valuable vehicle in this process.
Banks Cargill has three key areas of focus to
help achieve this:
— On raw material purchases, we
work very closely with retailers, processors and growers to produce
crops to protocol standards designed to meet increasingly tight
environmental standards.
— On crop protection, all of
our advisors are members of the BASIS professional register and,
in addition, we operate to strict standards for recommendations
using "Muddy Boots" computer decision support software.
These self-audit our recommendations to be in line with Assured
Produce Protocols.
— On training, eight employees
are actively involved in the training of spray operator members
of NRoSO. We have found the great majority of operators are enthusiastic
about having a formal method through which they can keep up-to-date
with advances in spray operator technology. We have managed courses
for three years and last year alone trained over 450 spray operators
with plans once again to expand the number of meetings we operate
this winter.
This includes all of our in-house spray operators
employed by our contract application department.
During the first year, we have helped our customers
to carry out nearly 10,000 ha of audits using CPMP, which we believe
is a very effective method of getting mainstream growers to formally
assess the biodiversity status and working practices on their
farms. This is a crucial and straightforward first step to encourage
a long-term approach to improving biodiversity on our farms.
CONTRACT APPLICATION
Banks Cargill has a significant agronomy and
contracting business and several of our employees played a significant
role in the development of the Sulphuric Acid Code of Practice,
which was one of the early projects of the VI to be completed.
Within 12 months of being introduced, over 99% of acid usage is
now sprayed by members who have signed to the code. As a consequence,
the code has not only helped to raise base standards in the industry
to above the minimum required by law, but it has also become an
effective route for communication and training.
All Banks Cargill contracting depots are committed
to the Sulphuric Acid Code of Practice and are using it as the
basis to encourage growers to more actively consider the implications
of their cropping on both the environment and the general public.
As part of our standard working practice, all
of our contracting equipment undergoes an annual AEA service,
which we also offer to our customers.
We believe that the VI has become an effective
directional focus for many of us in the industry who have been
working hard to improve standards in UK Agriculture. This progress
should continue, and arguably even accelerate, in the years to
come if the government and NGOs continue to offer support and
an understanding of the difficult economic and political context
within which our industry is trying to push through these improvements.
6 October 2004
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