Quality control, safety, professionalism and traceability are essential elements in carrying out agricultural operations
and the NAAC has taken a proactive role in establishing an independently audited quality standard for
agricultural operation contractors. This will cover the quality of service which the contractor provides
and will be known as the NAAC Assured Land-Based Contractor (Agricultural Operations) Scheme.
Agricultural Operation contractors and their customers must co-operate to ensure a safe, professional
operation can take place. This Scheme offers customers genuine assurance about the activity of
contractors. Contractors will only be certified if they can meet the appropriate standards.
In addition to the NAAC’s Agricultural Operations Specific Standard, the contractor must also have been assessed against
the NAAC Assured Land-Based Contractor (Generic) Standard in the current scheme year. Ideally, both
audits will be carried out together. Please note, certification cannot be granted without conformity
with the generic and agricultural operation standards.
The NAAC scheme is designed to help contractors involved in agricultural operations to identify the hazards and critical control points of the process.
The scheme aims to help the person carrying out the operation to fully understand, and to be able to
show full understanding of, the operation and the critical control points of that process.
These critical control points will include:
- Ensuring that personnel involved in the operations are suitably skilled
- Ensuring that machinery is regularly and appropriately maintained and cleaned
- Adopting production processes, such as record keeping, which ensures full traceability
- Identifying and controlling hazards which might occur
The scheme will establish a framework of good and safe working practices, to be verified by independent external assessors that will enable
members of the scheme to provide a safe, traceable and professional agricultural contracting service to meet the
requirements of national quality assurance programmes.
The scheme is open to NAAC members and non-members and the Association will provide contractors with the appropriate support and advice.
