'Bewildered' farmers in need of a profitable deal

THE farming sector is “bewildered and frightened”, with inheritance tax and farming payment changes causing significant ongoing concern, a review for the Government has found.

- EMILY BEAMENT

The farm profitability report by former National Farmers' Union president Baroness Minette Batters has called for a “new deal for profitable farming” that recognises the true cost of producing food and delivering for the environment.

In response to the review, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, inset, announced farmers and food businesses would have a stronger voice in Government through a new “farming and food partnership board” to drive growth, productivity and long-term profitability across the sector.

The terms of the review by Baroness Batters did not include the controversial changes to inheritance tax, which will are set to apply to farm businesses worth more than £1 million.

But Baroness Batters said it was raised as the single biggest issue regarding farm viability by almost all respondents to her review.

She said the sector had faced a sharp rise in costs and increasingly extreme weather, with severe drought this year.

Uncertainty surrounding the closure of applications to the sustainable farming incentive scheme - the main post-Brexit agricultural payments - and proposed changes to inheritance tax had created “significant” ongoing concern, with some farmers questioning viability let alone profitability.