Industry initiatives: giving our time and commitment
Cawood is committed to making a positive contribution to the sectors we service by supporting a wide range of industry stakeholder groups with our time and financial resources. We create and manage proficiency testing (PT) schemes and offer consultancy and training on their operation, as well as taking part in many schemes ourselves. We are often asked to develop model analysis guidelines for accreditation bodies, which all laboratories follow to ensure standards are maintained throughout the laboratory testing market.
Cawood is a member of the AIC (Agricultural Industries Confederation) which is the agrisupply industry’s leading trade association, representing animal feed, crop protection and agronomy, fertilisers, grain and seed. It promotes the benefits of modern commercial agriculture in the UK and supports collaboration throughout the food chain.
SARIC (Sustainable Agricultural Research and Innovation Club): supports innovative projects that offer solutions to key challenges affecting the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of the UK crop and livestock sectors. We are one of 12 company members who contribute to funding research and take part in directing the Club’s activities.
AHDB Healthy Soils Group: delivers transformational projects to drive productivity and boost farming and supply chain businesses. We contribute to funding their activities, including thought leadership, helping the industry to embrace new technologies and techniques, and inspiring UK farmers to be more competitive and resilient.
PAAG (Professional Agricultural Analysis Group): as a founder member, we helped raise the overall standards of nutrient measurement in agriculture through a new Proficiency Testing scheme. Alongside other laboratories, we also provide data for their annual soil data summary, which compares the results of farmers across the UK.
YEN (The Yield Enhancement Network): connects agricultural organisations and farmers who are striving to improve crop performance. As a sponsor, we support the network to maintain its core activities and play a role in steering its evolution.
British Standards Committee: a committee group of industry experts working with the British Standards Institute to bring together relevant stakeholders and users of the Standard, ensuring it is up-to-date and following current best practice. The committee reviews and updates the BS 8601 specification for subsoil and requirements for use and the BS 3882 specification for topsoil.
FAA (Forage Analytical Assurance): as a member of this quality assurance scheme, we participate in the reliable and consistent analysis of an estimated 70,000 samples of grass, maize and whole cereal silage annually, allowing farmers and feed advisors to formulate efficient and environmentally sound ruminant diets. We also developed wet chemistry calibrations to support ‘wet’ NIR analysis, which formed the basis of the calibrations developed and monitored by the FAA Group in the late 1990s.
FEMAS (Feed Materials Assurance Scheme): provides an assurance system to ensure that feedstuffs for UK livestock comply with the safety obligations defined by legislators and the industry. We contribute, where applicable, to the FEMAS Working Group, which manages and reviews the scheme.
BVPA (British Veterinary Poultry Association): aims to further the knowledge of its members by holding educational and technical meetings about the poultry world, including the latest information, updates and official guidelines for the industry. We are an associate member.