JONATHON Porritt turned his attention to the Little Red Tractor at the recent Oxford Farming Conference, and pulled no punches, calling it a "bog standard baseline". Jonathon is chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission and an important Government adviser is this field.

Shoppers in supermarkets are becoming more familiar with the discreet Little Red Tractor emblem on foods, which confirms that they are home grown, British, and produced to higher animal welfare and environmental standards than are required for many imported items on the shelves.

The Little Red Tractor scheme has been promoted by the National Farmers Union to give shoppers more confidence in selecting what to put in their basket.

Labels such as "Packed in Britain" on imported produce were confusing and could even suggest such items were home grown. More informative descriptive labelling should be required to give clear guidance.

Jonathon Porritt explained that the Sustainable Development Commission was on the brink of launching a report on the Little Red Tractor scheme, which would urge for more stringent production standards. "This scheme asks little more of farmers than that already required by law in looking after animals and not harming the environment," he said.

"I would advise consumers to accept the Red Tractor for what it is... a marque of assurance that essentially denotes a set of minimum standards regarding animal welfare and environment issues. I would hope that they would be looking for produce that achieves higher standards.

"I envisage something between a bog standard baseline and a gold standard - something to appeal to many who are not prepared to pay the cost of organic food but are looking for something more than the minimum offered through the Little Red Tractor.

"There are various halfway house standards, such as the LEAF (Linking Farming and Environment) and RSPCA marques, but people are confused as to what they all mean. There is a need for a new logo that fits in between the Red Tractor and the 'gold standard' of organic production."

Tim Bennett, president of the NFU, said, "The purpose of the Red Tractor is to differentiate British food produced to high standards and subject to inspection from imported foods with lower standards.

"I completely disagree with the suggestion that organic farming represents the gold standard, but I do agree that there is a need for a new marque to reflect the changing face of farming with the introduction of cross compliance and the entry level scheme, both requiring better environmental safeguards.

"A possible answer is to have a red tractor with a green trailer to denote higher environmental standards. Such a new marque should not involve significant extra costs and inspections for farmers, who are already concerned about the costs of farm assurance

"Rather than starting from scratch with a new set of standards and inspections, the Green trailer could be linked to the LEAF marque, which already denotes green farming techniques. We don't want to reinvent the wheel."

The little tractor was highlighted again in the Oxford Question Time, involving leading experts in food and farming and chaired by Sir Max Hastings, distinguished journalist and broadcaster and President of the council for the Protection of Rural England.

Baroness Young, former Chairman of English Nature and now Chief Executive of the Environment agency, declared, "The public needs a new marque, such as a green trailer with the red tractor, pretty quickly, so that they can differentiate environmentally-friendly produced food!"

No publicity is bad publicity and the promoters of the Little Red Tractor must have been delighted at the focus on it at the Oxford Farming Conference.