In message , DrTeeth
writes
On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:34:46 +0000, just as I was about to take a
herb, Tim Lamb disturbed my reverie and
wrote:

There are a number of industry promoted
*assurance* schemes where farmers agree to abide by specific rules and
are inspected annually on compliance.

An annual inspection is hardly rigorous. I'd say four unannounced
inspections a year at a minimum would be more the ticket.

Yebbut.

These inspections can only be superficial as it would take a battery of
lab tests to check on crop spray residues.

Is the paper work correct?
Has the sprayer got its annual test certificate?
Can birds/vermin get in the grain store?
Is the sprayer operators membership current?
Are all the chemicals currently in stock on the approved list?
Have the spray recommendations come from an approved source?
Are the treatment records up to date?
Does the loader bucket cleaning link to the grain lorry dockets?

etc. and it is a long list.

The paper trail is not fraud proof but it exists. Samples of each lorry
load leaving the farm must be kept for 12 months. The mill also take,
test and keep a sample of each delivery.


--
Tim Lamb