A Lincolnshire farmer who is helping to organise a rally against the recent Budget says the industry is facing its biggest threat in 80 years.
The government announced last week changes to inheritance tax and national insurance, which Andrew Ward described as “crippling.”
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) will hold a 1,800-member lobby against the new policies in London on 19 November.
Mr Ward, who farms in Leadenham, is helping to organise a side event for hundreds of others who also want to make their voices heard.
“The changes we heard last week are the most serious threat to agriculture since the Second World War,” he said.
“The NFU event went from 600 people to 1,800, and we know there are many more who still want to attend.
“We’ve been working with the Met Police to arrange a location for our event. It will be legal and peaceful, but it certainly won’t be happy.
“And any newspaper stories of farmers converging on London with tractors and muckspreaders won’t be true – we’ll be leaving them at home.”
The Chancellor announced last week that inheritance tax relief for farms will be limited to £1 million, meaning it could cost farmers millions of pounds to hand down their estates to their families.
National insurance contributions for employers will also rise, at a time when many farms are already struggling.
The government says these changes are necessary to rebuild Britain’s public services.
Mr Ward hopes to use the day to highlight farmers’ crucial role in feeding the country.
“We’re hoping to have the biggest ever day for food bank donations,” he said.
“We need the government to realise the value of food and stop undervaluing farmers.
“The costs we have to absorb to put food in supermarkets are incredible, and yet we’re still getting paid the same as we did 20 years ago. Would anyone else put up with that?
“This Budget could be the end of family farms that have been going for 200 or 300 years.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Lab) stated in the Budget that the government was making very difficult choices to “fix Britain’s foundations” and close a £22 billion black hole.
She claimed the changes would protect working people and that reforms to inheritance tax and Agricultural Business Relief would only affect the very wealthiest.
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