You will have seen and heard farmers and growers across the country angry and concerned for the future after the Chancellor’s Budget on 30 October announced changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR).
Let’s be clear, if this tax change goes ahead, it will deal a hammer blow to farming families, after decades of tightening margins, record inflation, extreme weather and increased production costs, many farmers and growers are at breaking point, unable to absorb any more cost burden.
This matters because it has the potential to reduce UK food production and alongside the increases in employment costs, the cost of food production rises, with many people still facing a cost-of-living crisis.
For everyone that loves and enjoys our precious rural areas, this tax change could alter our iconic landscapes forever.
The Chancellor says the £1million cap will protect small family farms. It won’t.
Put simply, many family farms will be impacted because while lots of smallholdings and houses with a few acres let for grazing might be okay, very few viable farms would be worth under £1million.
Farmers are often cash poor even if on paper their farms are valuable when sold.
Join the growing call to overturn this policy.
