It wasn't the inheritance tax that sounded the death knell for British farming...but it was the final nail in the coffin of the relationship between the government and British farmers.
We have researched farming opinions for years, and we have been tracking responses to a single question 'What keeps farmers awake at night?' from the 1000+ who are part of our farming panel.
The past eight years in the life of a farmer when it comes to Westminster look like this;
2016 – The UK left the EU. CAP subsidies disappeared. Farmers adapted, worked harder—and kept feeding the British people.
2018 – The Clean Air Strategy called for reduced ammonia emissions, adding costs. Farmers complied, kept their heads down, and kept feeding the British people.
2019 – New welfare standards demanded costly improvements. Farmers absorbed the impact, did what was needed, and kept feeding British people.
2020 – Trade deals ushered in food produced to standards UK farmers couldn’t compete with. Still, they stayed resilient and kept feeding the British people.
2021 – ELMS came in as a CAP replacement but didn’t cover the losses. It demanded a shift in farming practices, yet farmers adapted and kept feeding British people.
2021 – New nutrient runoff restrictions imposed changes in fertiliser use, adding compliance burdens. Farmers adapted again and kept feeding the British people.
2022 – Government enthusiasm for rewilding overshadowed concerns for domestic food security. Still, farmers stayed the course, feeding the British people.
2023 – Restrictions on water abstraction further strained irrigation. Yet despite everything, farmers kept feeding the British people.
2024 – And now…inheritance tax, a shock to British agriculture and the communities it anchors.
But let’s not forget everything else that piled on during this time—plummeting food prices, retailer monopolies, fuel hikes, labour shortages, regulatory uncertainty, diseases, resistant crops, and, of course, the weather. Corporate giants may have teams of lawyers, procurement officers, and supply chain managers to tackle these pressures, but for the farmer? It’s often just one person and their dog.
For so many family farms, that certainty—the ability to pass on the fruits of hard work to the next generation—was a bedrock. Ripping it away might be fair in the eyes of many, but it's the cherry on a steaming pile of excrement for many farmers who have simply had enough.
The optimists see this as a chance to spark new conversations about succession, innovation, and bringing fresh blood into the sector.
But, the breath-taking lack of compassion and understanding shown to these men and women and the expectation that they’ll just roll with the punches, take the risks, absorb the costs...well, I think that is over.
On the 19th November, we will know if farmers have decided enough is enough and if their commitment to feeding the British people through adversity is faltering.
What Next?
Farming opinion has never been so important, and with big changes now in motion, we need to make sure it is heard. Please join the UK's largest independent farming research community run by farmers, for farmers, to make sure that policy, organisations and charities whose work affects farmers understand what's happening on the ground:
We are also asking all farmers to share a sentence (or more!) on what keeps them awake at night. We are gathering information to share an independent report at the end of the year that will demonstrate the complexities of the farming landscape, and how, what and where farming needs support to continue to maintain domestic food security and protect nature. A look at the first 100 responses here.
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