Angry Farmers Are Ready to Roll into Westminster: The Fallout from New Inheritance Tax Policies
In the coming weeks, Westminster may witness an unusual spectacle: convoys of tractors filled with disgruntled farmers protesting through its stately streets. These farmers say they have reached their limit. The recent change in inheritance tax, announced in the government’s budget, has struck a nerve—although it’s only the latest in a series of blows dealt to the agricultural community. Many now feel they can take no more.
The Inheritance Tax Change That Sparked Outrage
The turning point came last week when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a surprise inheritance tax amendment, stating that farmland valued above £1 million would now be subject to tax upon inheritance. Since 1992, agricultural property relief (APR) had allowed family farms to be passed down tax-free, a policy intended to ensure food security and keep generations of families on their land. Reeves’s announcement has been viewed as a betrayal of this principle, leaving farming communities shocked and angry.
The policy shift has stirred a debate that cuts to the heart of what it means to own land in the UK, who should be responsible for supporting public services, and how the agricultural sector is treated in comparison to other industries.
Farmers’ Concerns: Cumulative Burden and Financial Squeeze
This tax change is only the latest in a string of challenges for farmers. Over recent decades, British agriculture has grappled with difficult contracts with supermarkets, forcing farmers to squeeze profit margins to remain competitive. Brexit, too, has brought its own complications. The promise of a stronger UK agriculture sector has been undermined by trade deals with countries like Australia and New Zealand, which allow the import of cheaper, lower-standard meat. Farmers argue this undercuts them in the marketplace.
Further, farmers have had to transition from the EU’s common agricultural policy subsidies to a UK-specific scheme focused on payments for environmental services—a move that has been marred by delays and administrative issues. Meanwhile, the UK’s departure from the EU has added export complexities and intensified the challenge of securing seasonal labour for farms. The compounded impact of these changes has left many farmers feeling abandoned and undervalued.
Extreme Weather and Rising Costs
Adding to these economic and policy pressures, climate change has taken a toll on farming, with increasingly frequent extreme weather events leading to crop devastation. Inflation, too, has hit the industry hard, causing spikes in the prices of essential inputs like fuel, feed, and fertiliser.
Tom Bradshaw, President of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), highlighted the struggle: “After enduring years of being squeezed to the lowest margins imaginable, farmers are grappling with sky-high production costs… coupled with significant post-Brexit policy shifts and increasingly extreme weather conditions, there is nothing left for our nation’s food producers to give.”
The NFU’s Demands: A Fairer System for Farmers
The NFU is calling on the government not only to reverse the recent changes to inheritance tax but to enact policies that better support UK farmers. Key demands include a commitment to maintaining the UK’s self-sufficiency in food, ensuring food imports adhere to the same high standards imposed on British produce, and addressing unfair supply chains, which have seen supermarket profits soar while farmers receive less than a penny for every loaf of bread or block of cheese sold.
On 19 November, the NFU plans to bring 1,800 members to Westminster to engage MPs in discussions. Other farming organisations may stage separate, more radical protests on the same day, potentially including disruptive actions to bring attention to the plight of farmers.
The Tax Loophole Problem: A Crisis of Fairness
For many farmers, the inheritance tax change feels like punishment for a problem created by others. Farmland values have surged, partly because wealthy individuals have invested in farmland as a tax shelter. For long-time family farmers, this rise in land value means that passing on their land to the next generation could now lead to massive tax liabilities—sapping the income essential to keeping their farms viable.
Will White, a farm sustainability coordinator at Sustain, criticised the government’s approach: “Land values have soared, partly due to wealthy individuals exploiting the system, but it shouldn’t be farmers—particularly those committed to nature-friendly farming—who end up paying the price for this. Land should not be a tax haven for the wealthy.”
The Treasury asserts that the tax change will impact only 28% of farms, yet data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs suggests that closer to two-thirds could be affected. The discrepancy has led to accusations that the government is not being transparent with the farming community.
Diverse Views Within the Farming Sector
Despite the widespread anger, not everyone in the agricultural community opposes the tax policy. Some, such as Guy Singh-Watson, founder of the organic vegetable box company Riverford, acknowledge the need for tax reform. Singh-Watson, who farms both in the UK and France, initially opposed the policy but later viewed it as a necessary step to curb wealth inequality within landownership. He points out that the APR’s unintended effect has been to inflate land prices, making it difficult for new entrants to access farming.
“Land in the French Vendée… is less than a tenth of the price of equivalent land in Devon. To be a farmer there, you must be deemed fit to farm by local authorities,” Singh-Watson said. “It should offend all farmers with mud on their boots that those who are simply buying up our country to keep more money and assets for themselves are claiming to represent us.”
Alternative Solutions: Taxing Wealth, Not Family Farms
Singh-Watson and others have proposed alternative solutions that might raise more funds without disproportionately harming farmers. For instance, capital gains on the value uplift of land when planning permission is granted are currently tax-exempt if reinvested in land—a policy that some argue allows for significant untaxed wealth accumulation. Taxing these gains could generate more revenue than the APR changes and would target landowners who benefit from property value inflation rather than small-scale family farmers.
Others, like White, suggest focusing on larger agribusinesses and supermarkets, whose immense profits have come at the expense of fair compensation for farmers. He points out that “while some farmers will have to pay more, supermarkets and large agribusinesses continue to squeeze every last drop out of the food supply chain… a fairer and more lucrative approach from the government would be to start by taxing and better regulating the bigger players in the supply chain, where the real profits are made.”
The Government’s Response and the Road Ahead
In response, a government spokesperson defended the budget decisions, stating that the “government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast.” The spokesperson highlighted a £5 billion pledge to support the farming sector over the next two years and insisted that the majority of farms would remain unaffected by the APR changes.
While the government contends that the inheritance tax policy strikes a fair balance, many in the farming community remain unconvinced. With food production costs soaring, trade pressures mounting, and the impacts of climate change becoming ever more severe, farmers say they need more than words—they need policies that protect their livelihoods, recognise the value they bring to the UK, and prevent further strain on an already fragile sector.
Will Protests Lead to Real Change?
As tractors prepare to roll into Westminster, it’s clear that farmers are reaching a breaking point. Their demands reflect a need for immediate relief and a broader conversation about fairness in the food supply chain, wealth distribution, and the sustainability of UK agriculture.
Whether the government will heed these calls remains to be seen. For now, the agricultural community stands united, and as their protests amplify, the question for policymakers is whether they will protect one of the country’s oldest professions or risk pushing it into decline. As farmers look to Parliament for answers, the future of UK agriculture hangs in the balance.