Farmers plough on with fresh protests in London ahead of union's conference

Food producers will raise inheritance tax grievances again on Tuesday before the NFU’s get-together, writes Joanna Partridge

- Joanna Partridge

The suits and black cabs that typically dot the streets around Westminster have been frequently replaced of late by the wellies, tweed jackets and tractors of aggrieved farmers.

The next protest in London by the nation's food producers is expected on Tuesday morning, before the annual get-together of the National Farmers' Union (NFU).

Farmers have regularly swapped their fields for the city since October, when changes to inheritance tax (IHT) for agricultural businesses were announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, angrily protesting and waving banners.

This year's one-day NFU conference will be held for the first time in more than 20 years in the capital instead of Birmingham, after the organisation decided to cut costs by making its usual Midlands two-day shindig every other year.

The meet-up comes as its 44,000 members across England and Wales continue to struggle with a string of challenges.

Farmers have been battered over the past few years by rising costs, labour shortages and post-Brexit changes to support payments, along with increasingly unpredictable weather, particularly this winter's flooding, which has prevented many from getting crops in the ground.