Ethical growing

Today I am completing an audit. It is not the first I have done, and it certainly will not be the last. In general, despite the outcry when ACCS (Assured Combinable Crops Scheme) was devised in 1998, I think that audits have been positive for the industry. They have prevented every processor developing their own scheme, and given a minimum standard by which the industry can market its produce - except in Potatoes and vegetables. In potatoes, retailers and end users constantly vie for bragging rights as the greenest and the most ethical source. Processors too are keen to prove how well audited their farmers are. I see this as part of our role in the supply chain, and whilst completing the audit and complying with it is time consuming and expensive, I am well aware that we are audited considerably less than other parts of the chain. I have no problem with showing and auditor that our moisture meter has been checked or that soils used to grow a crop have been tested. I become a little more uncomfortable when I am asked for the service records for our machines or the toilet cleaning audit. Today I am asked whether I have an anti-bribery and corruption policy and whether I have implemented an HIV / AIDS policy. I am sure that the person for whom I am completing this audit feels that these are important questions, and ones which may be asked by consumers (perhaps ones with too much time on their hands) but they are taking me away from the job at hand - that of growing good food in a world where one third of its population are starving.