UK biofuels farmers receive Red Tractor scheme boost

A biofuels scheme has gained European approval so that UK feedstocks can now have Red Tractor status.

The proposal, named The Red Tractor Crops and Sugar Beet Scheme, will ensure traceability on feedstocks back to individual UK farms and has been backed by the European Commission, ensuring recognition across all 27 member states. It has taken two years of lobbying by Red Tractor alongside the UK agriculture body NFU to get the proposal through.

The scheme hopes to give crop and sugar beet producers a boost in the biofuels market while keeping the burden of new EU regulations to a minimum by offering a route for farmers to demonstrate they meet sustainability requirements for biofuels crops under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED).

‘Our standards are known and trusted in supply chains and we, alongside the NFU, wanted to ensure this strength works to our members’ advantage,’ says chairman of the scheme Matthew Read. ‘Farmers can, through their membership, retain access to the European market place for their crops, without the need for additional audits and form-filling for every company they trade with.’

Full approval will be published on the DG Energy Transparency Platform on 19 July, which is in time for the UK oilseed harvest.

‘We are delighted that full approval has been granted ahead of harvest,’ adds Read.