So, according to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves farmers don’t work, despite putting in 18-hour days, often 7 days a week. That is unless these two lied through their teeth throughout the General Election and build up to the disastrous Budget, whilst telling the world and his wife that they would not tax ‘working people’.
Why would any business owner or farmer invest in their property, machinery, employees, training, the environment, or the future for that matter, if all their hard work, investment and efforts would result in this Labour Government taking a sizeable slice of that business and in doing so ensure it could not prosper and grow?
Labour has already made it perfectly clear that they will take from those who own their businesses, genuinely work for their living and invest in their staff, to give to the bloated public sector, as we witnessed when they gave in to train drivers demands already on a basic salary of £60,000, at the behest of their union pay masters who clearly call the shots.
Much has been written about the 20% inheritance tax on farms above the threshold value of £1million. This includes the land, farm buildings, farmhouse, workers’ cottage, live-stock, and machinery. With the average size of family farm being 300 – 500 acres, as is ours, the result will be many family farms having no choice but sell up within one or perhaps they can hang on for two generations, in order to pay the tax, often when they are already loaded in debt.
This tax raid is indeed a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Yes, there are hedge fund managers and multi-million-pound business owners who have or plan to buy farmland to offset future inheritance tax. If that is who the Chancellor is aiming at, then she should say so. But, to catch all the small fry which are the majority of farmers in her net is unforgiveable, highly damaging and will have huge implications on sustainability of food production and security, the environment, wildlife, people’s lives and the British countryside.
Most family farms go back generations; the Godman family have farmed Ote Hall Farm since the 1500s. Today just to keep our heads above water, we like so many farms, have had to diversify and invest capital to keep ahead of increasing amounts of legislation, red tape, and bureaucracy. Due to the environment agency breathing down our necks, we upgraded our sewage system by installing super expensive pumps and deep underground pipe work across the farm which replaced a very effective and safe system which had been in place since the 1880s and I must add, worked perfectly well, if not better than the new system which regularly breaks down and costs a bomb to service, including regularly replacing parts including the very expensive pumps.
Having been told by the last government they would reduce red tape which would have been helpful, in reality the hoops we must jump through have increased year on year.
Last week we had our annual Red Tractor inspection. You would think that as we always pass with flying colours, this would be a simple exercise to confirm everything is just the same, and we still know how to grow our arable crops despite coping with the loss of 75% of our crops due to the weather during 2023/24. And surely, we are also capable of looking after our Sussex cattle despite the insistence that there must be an annual report from our vet confirming that we do indeed still know what we are doing.
I usually get the inspector off the farm in a couple of hours but last week, maybe because he was new, the ‘very nice’ guy, took over five hours to complete his form filling, during which he asked for documents and records which quite frankly he had no need to see or business to. What a waste of his time and mine, particularly as it was the week of our TB Test. He was quite frankly fortunate to get away without being throttled by me, but be assured, I was polite to a fault.
I understand there are just three farmers in Parliament - what hope have we that common sense will prevail on the green benches when it comes to matters regarding agriculture, food production, the environment and the very future of our industry and related suppliers of machinery, Agri-chemicals including R & D, seed, related services, and the countryside. Do they know or care about livestock breeding and genetic improvements, the development of seeds which have been created to cope with climate change, disease, and pests, here and abroad?
What about the vital work of our game keepers who ensure farms have a good balance of wildlife as they manage vermin and habitats, so vital for a healthy eco-system. Who will manage our ancient woodlands so lovingly cared for by generations of farmers with the knowledge handed down from generation to generation?
It is not just the farming community who should be standing up to this left-wing government, the public who care about their countryside and appreciate just why we have such a ‘green and pleasant land’ cared for by farmers, should make their voices heard now before it is too late.
Why would any business owner or farmer invest in their property, machinery, employees, training, the environment, or the future for that matter, if all their hard work, investment and efforts would result in this Labour Government taking a sizeable slice of that business and in doing so ensure it could not prosper and grow?
Labour has already made it perfectly clear that they will take from those who own their businesses, genuinely work for their living and invest in their staff, to give to the bloated public sector, as we witnessed when they gave in to train drivers demands already on a basic salary of £60,000, at the behest of their union pay masters who clearly call the shots.
Much has been written about the 20% inheritance tax on farms above the threshold value of £1million. This includes the land, farm buildings, farmhouse, workers’ cottage, live-stock, and machinery. With the average size of family farm being 300 – 500 acres, as is ours, the result will be many family farms having no choice but sell up within one or perhaps they can hang on for two generations, in order to pay the tax, often when they are already loaded in debt.
This tax raid is indeed a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Yes, there are hedge fund managers and multi-million-pound business owners who have or plan to buy farmland to offset future inheritance tax. If that is who the Chancellor is aiming at, then she should say so. But, to catch all the small fry which are the majority of farmers in her net is unforgiveable, highly damaging and will have huge implications on sustainability of food production and security, the environment, wildlife, people’s lives and the British countryside.
Most family farms go back generations; the Godman family have farmed Ote Hall Farm since the 1500s. Today just to keep our heads above water, we like so many farms, have had to diversify and invest capital to keep ahead of increasing amounts of legislation, red tape, and bureaucracy. Due to the environment agency breathing down our necks, we upgraded our sewage system by installing super expensive pumps and deep underground pipe work across the farm which replaced a very effective and safe system which had been in place since the 1880s and I must add, worked perfectly well, if not better than the new system which regularly breaks down and costs a bomb to service, including regularly replacing parts including the very expensive pumps.
Having been told by the last government they would reduce red tape which would have been helpful, in reality the hoops we must jump through have increased year on year.
Last week we had our annual Red Tractor inspection. You would think that as we always pass with flying colours, this would be a simple exercise to confirm everything is just the same, and we still know how to grow our arable crops despite coping with the loss of 75% of our crops due to the weather during 2023/24. And surely, we are also capable of looking after our Sussex cattle despite the insistence that there must be an annual report from our vet confirming that we do indeed still know what we are doing.
I usually get the inspector off the farm in a couple of hours but last week, maybe because he was new, the ‘very nice’ guy, took over five hours to complete his form filling, during which he asked for documents and records which quite frankly he had no need to see or business to. What a waste of his time and mine, particularly as it was the week of our TB Test. He was quite frankly fortunate to get away without being throttled by me, but be assured, I was polite to a fault.
I understand there are just three farmers in Parliament - what hope have we that common sense will prevail on the green benches when it comes to matters regarding agriculture, food production, the environment and the very future of our industry and related suppliers of machinery, Agri-chemicals including R & D, seed, related services, and the countryside. Do they know or care about livestock breeding and genetic improvements, the development of seeds which have been created to cope with climate change, disease, and pests, here and abroad?
What about the vital work of our game keepers who ensure farms have a good balance of wildlife as they manage vermin and habitats, so vital for a healthy eco-system. Who will manage our ancient woodlands so lovingly cared for by generations of farmers with the knowledge handed down from generation to generation?
It is not just the farming community who should be standing up to this left-wing government, the public who care about their countryside and appreciate just why we have such a ‘green and pleasant land’ cared for by farmers, should make their voices heard now before it is too late.
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