The Audit Trail
The fundamental role of our team of trained auditors is to assess whether a certified operation is compliant with AGW’s standards. After visiting your business, the auditor will submit a detailed audit report to AGW’s compliance team, identifying any issues that may have arisen on the day of their visit. These are known as a non-compliance or a critical non-compliance. The compliance team will then review the audit report for accuracy and completeness, before sending a Compliance Report back to…
Trust is Easy to Lose and Hard to Gain. So Are Farmers.
The grocery industry is once again facing a food labeling scandal that could send shockwaves around the globe. An established UK retailer, known for sourcing only “the best British beef,” is embroiled in a criminal investigation for alleged fraud, following accusations they have been selling “large volumes” of pre-packed meat and deli products originally sourced from South America and Europe. Exactly 10 years on from the infamous “horsegate” scandal, where horsemeat was fraudulently included in processed beef products, leading retailers…
Testing Times
Congratulations! You’ve decided to make a commitment to non-GMO certification to meet the rapidly growing public demand for products free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or genetically modified ingredients. You’ve carefully read AGW’s Non-GMO standards, submitted your application, and completed your first audit. You eagerly anticipate your certificate arriving in your mailbox. But after a few weeks, you start to wonder what could be taking so long? If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Let’s explore what happens to your…
Gunningham Family Farms, Mawbanna, Tasmania [AUSTRALIA]
Matthew and Pippa Gunningham established Gunningham Family Farms in 2001, shortly after migrating from the UK to Tasmania. The farming family business is located in north-west Tasmania, Australia, on a magnificent swathe of beautiful, rich farmland along the edge of the Tarkine, an extraordinary and relatively untouched protected region of Tasmania. As well as growing the business, Matthew and Pippa also had a family, with children Henry, Amelia, Olivia, Elsa and William helping out with farm chores. The Gunningham Family…
UK Government Farming Policy: Agri-Cultural Extinction?
Apologies for the sensationalist headline, but it’s clear the future of farming in this country is at a crossroads. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the current (unwritten) UK government policy is to dismantle ‘UK farming’ as we know it. I’m not one for conspiracy theories but it appears that independent family farms (and the long-standing rural economic and social dynamic that surrounds and depends on them) will soon be replaced by large scale agribusiness – and the…
