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The National Farmers Union has accused the Government of “betrayal” over changes to inheritance tax as thousands of farmers prepare to gather in London for a rally.
Its chairman, Tom Bradshaw, told the BBC that the measures announced in the budget were “completely unfair”.
From April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1 million, which were previously exempt, will be subject to tax at 20%, half the usual rate.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “We've had to ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay a little more.” He added that “the vast majority of farmers will pay nothing” even after the changes.
The NFU brought together 1,800 of its members in London on Tuesday for a massive lobby of MPs.
A larger event, to which more than 10,000 people have registered according to organizers, will be held in Whitehall.
The number of farms that could be affected by the modification of inheritance taxes is controversial.
The government says this will only affect the wealthiest 500 estates each year, but the NFU and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) have estimated that up to 70,000 farms could be affected.
Mr Bradshaw told BBC Newsnight: “It's people's lives, it's their livelihoods we're talking about. They have no capacity to plan.”
Among those attending Tuesday's events is Gloucestershire grazier David Barton, who owns a 265-acre farm near Cirencester that has been in his family since 1913.
Mr Barton estimates his 400 cattle business is worth around £5m and proposed changes to inheritance tax could leave his son facing an £800,000 bill.
“This budget has ripped our hearts out because I know my son will not be able to pay the inheritance tax,” he said.
He is now considering donating his estate, meaning it would not be subject to inheritance tax if he does not die within seven years, but he fears he will not be in the financial position to stop working .
Baroness Minette Bridget Batters, a farmer and former president of the NFU, called for measures to protect farmers from additional costs.
She told the Today program she felt like “the penalties continue to grow” with increases in the National Living Wage, increases in National Insurance and now inheritance tax.
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Rupert Dale said the inheritance tax he and his brother would have to pay would be an “immense sum”.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “It is absolutely right to ask the wealthiest farmers and high net worth individuals who have bought farmland to avoid their own inheritance tax, to pay their fair leaves.”
He added that the Government had committed to investing £5 billion in sustainable farming over the next two years and said farms would be passed down from generation to generation.
Student Alaw Jones, who plans to join the rally, is the ninth generation of her family to raise cattle in west Wales. She said her parents always planned to pass the business on to her and her sister, but now “all the work they've done to grow the business and keep this farm self-sustaining, it's as if it was of no use.”
She added: “Mental health is a major issue in the farming sector and this appears to be the final nail in the coffin for farmers who are already struggling. »
Rupert Dale's family runs a hay farm on the Worcestershire-Shropshire border, supplying graziers across the country.
He said the family now feared they would have to sell, explaining: “My brother and I would have to pay an immense amount of money for our farm to continue and it was a sum that we talked about together as a family and that we would not be able to to finance and afford.
Students' Union President Alexandra Godfrey said: “I think this is one of the agricultural sector's most pressing challenges and we all need to come together to tell the Government how we feel. If not now, when?
“Repair Utilities”
Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said Labor had delivered a “Budget of broken promises” that was “killing British agriculture”.
“Farmers can be asset rich but cash poor,” she told the BBC's Today programme.
“They’re not in it for the money, it’s a 365-day responsibility.”
The government previously estimated that only 500 of the UK's richest landowners would be affected by the change – a figure the Liberal Democrats called “pure zero”.
“The only way people can pay for the inheritance is to get rid of the farm – for businesses to buy it,” said Tim Farron, the party's environment, food and business spokesman. rural, on BBC Breakfast.
“It’s cruel, it’s unfair, it’s also incredibly stupid.”
