The campaign, which was fronted by Janet Street-Porter, has proved hugely successful for Red Tractor, generating significant media and consumer interest on a national level, as well as support from the Government.

The Week’s highlight was Tuesday’s official launch, when Janet Street-Porter was joined by Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman MP, and David Gregory, Chairman of Assured Food Standards to cut a giant six-foot Red Tractor cake on London’s Southbank. The ceremony was attended by a host of industry supporters of the Red Tractor Scheme.

David Gregory of AFS, commented, “We are delighted with the success of Red Tractor Week and the 10th anniversary celebrations, which provided a great platform for us to raise further awareness of the Red Tractor mark amongst the industry and consumers. We’re now looking forward to further growth as we aim to build on this fantastic momentum.“

Other highlights of Red Tractor Week included:

• The NFU’s re-launch of its ‘Lets Talk Farming’ Roadshow, which visited schools in Central London throughout the week giving pupils an insight into how food makes it way from British farms to their plates.
  
  
• Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman MP joined David Clarke, Chief Executive of AFS in a visit to the Three Counties Show at the Malvern Showground – the UK’s first showground to receive Red Tractor status.
  
  
• Carling, the UK’s number one lager, announced its Red Tractor certification for its barley. Carling will now carry the Red Tractor mark on all its multi-pack boxes and will be carrying the logo on its cans later this year.
  
  
• National broadcast coverage of Red Tractor Week was generated, including on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today and Radio 2’s Drivetime show as well as national broadsheet articles.

In only a decade Assured Food Standards has, with the support of leading supermarkets, taken the Red Tractor mark onto 310bn worth of UK food and drink products including major brands and is making significant inroads into the foodservice sector. The scheme has also been chosen by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) which is committed to sourcing Red Tractor food for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

You can find out more information on Red Tractor and details of the scheme by clicking here, or by e-mailing Ben Egan or Lucy McCulloch.