STORIES · 01.11.24
Farming | Food | Sustainability
As a passionate supporter of British farming, I am deeply concerned by the Government’s proposed changes to inheritance tax for family farms and the threats these pose to the future of family-run working farms across our country.
The £1 million threshold fails to account for the realities facing today’s farmers. To maintain a sustainable, diversified operation requires significant land and capital investments – well beyond what this threshold will actually cover. These changes place an unfair burden on the very people working tirelessly every day to feed our nation and will make it more difficult for young farming families to use land to produce food.
This careful stewardship of the land requires both time and resources. The “working farmers” are families who rise before dawn, work seven days a week, and who have built their lives around the rhythms of the land and their livestock. Many will be unable to attend today’s farmers’ rally in our capital city because their animals need feeding and their farms need tending – which is why it is so important that their voices are amplified.
The relationship between farmers and their land transcends mere ownership. Through generations, farmers have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to their soil, developing an intimate understanding of their fields that cannot be taught by books alone. This deep connection has driven them to think long-term – not just about productivity, but about looking after nature, improving soil quality, investing in machinery, and taking calculated risks – all enabled by the security their land provides.
How we grow our food today determines the health of generations to come. Growing food locally and seasonally is about more than reducing food miles. Yet despite their crucial role in feeding our nation, today’s farmers are price takers, not price makers. The only significant asset most farmers possess is their land, passed down through the generations, which has historically allowed them to weather economic storms and plan for the future.
These proposed tax changes threaten to reshape our agricultural landscape dramatically, and potentially permanently, in my opinion. As Charles Moore observed in these pages, only two types of farms are likely to survive: tiny holdings whose owners derive their main income elsewhere, and vast agri-businesses with the resources to navigate bureaucracy and complex tax regulations. This would fundamentally alter the character of our nation, erasing the patchwork of family farms that have defined our countryside for centuries, and on which all of us depend.
Most farmers are not wealthy landowners, but hard-working small British farmers who rely on their farms for their living, having built their livelihoods over generations. By undermining the viability of these small, family-run enterprises, we risk losing a way of life that is fundamental to Britain’s food security and the future of our rural communities.
I urge the Government to reconsider this approach, revise the threshold, and engage directly with farmers to develop policies that truly support the future of British farming. Ahead of today’s rally, it is clearer than ever that our elected leaders must listen to the voices of those on the land, the small farmers who work the soil and who look after nature on our behalf. Only by doing so can we ensure a vibrant, sustainable future for family farms that benefits the entire nation.
