User:SFQC

Scottish Farm Assurance

The term farm assurance was first used in Scotland in the late 1980's to describe new certification schemes, established by farmers (NFUS ), meat processors (SAMW), consumers (Scottish Consumer Council) and supporting agencies (SE, HIDB, MLC, SAC), in response to emerging consumer concerns about food production. These schemes introduced independent, on-farm auditing of animal welfare, environmental care and staff competence. The first farm assurance scheme was SPII (Scottish Pig Industry Initiative), followed by FASL (Farm Assured Scotch Lamb) and SQC (Scottish Quality Cereals). Food produced through these schemes carry Scotch and Scottish branding (e.g. Scotch Beef). Other farming sectors in Scotland followed quickly.

Scottish farmed salmon producers established similar assurance schemes (Scottish Quality Salmon and Shetland Quality Salmon) during the same period (late 80's early 90's) followed by farmed trout (Scottish Quality Trout). Farmers in England established their own (and sometimes UK wide) farm assurance schemes in the second half of the 90's, these eventually being encompassed within Assured Food Standards which operates the Red Tractor Mark. The rest of Europe took up farm assurance in the late 1990's (e.g. EurepGap) with many other parts of the world adopting farm assurance in the early 2000's (e.g. GlobalGap).

The individuals who established farm assurance in Scotland included Maitland Mackie (SPII Chair), Jim Royan (FASL Chair), John Ross (NFUS President), John MacNaughton (SQBLA Chair), Alistair Donaldson (MLC Scotland Director), Brian Simpson (SQBLA Chief Executive), Ian Duncan Miller (livestock farmer), Alan Stevenson (SAMW), David Jack (cereal farmer), David Taylor (Scottish Enterprise), George Russell (Scottish Enterprise) and Peter Brown (HIDB then SPII & FASL Chief Executive).

SFQC (Scottish Food Quality Certification Ltd)

As Scottish farm assurance schemes developed in the late 1980's and early 1990's there was a need for their delivery to be coordinated. In 1995 the Schemes joined the newly established SFQC (Scottish Food Quality Certification Ltd.) which became the world's first farm and food certification business accredited to ISO Guide 65. SFQC quickly expanded beyond farm assurance to certify a wide range of farm and food standards. By the late 1990's SFQC certified approximately 15000 farms (circa 90% of Scottish farm output).

During the 1990's and 2000's certification of farm assurance and other farm based assurance schemes (e.g organic) developed worldwide on a competitive, commercial basis. This activity continues to be governed by internationally governed accreditation regulators.

In the late 1990's SFQC extended its operations beyond farm assurance into the food production chain to auction markets, livestock feed producers, livestock and crop transport, food processing, food transport and storage. It also extended into non food and land products such as environmental, forestry and fish farming certification. In 1997 SFQC established a business in Oxford to provide farming and food certification services in England (CMi Certification Ltd.). CMi was sold to American interests (NSF) in 2007. In June 2011 SFQC was purchased to become part of Certus Compliance Ltd.

SFQC was founded in 1995 by Peter Brown (Owner & Managing Director) and chaired by Loudon Hamilton (former head of Department of Agriculture & Fisheries Scottish Office), with David Whiteford (farmer, NFUS pig convenor and the second SPII Chair) and Margaret Seaton (nee Harvey) becoming joint owners and Directors in 1997 and 1999 respectively. The company's establishment was supported by the Scottish Office and Scottish Enterprise.