Farmers protest inheritance tax changes at Oxford Farming Conference
Steve Reed has apologised to farmers for the 'shock' to the industry of the inheritance tax changes.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has apologised to farmers at the Oxford Farming Conference that actions such as changes to inheritance tax taken by the new Government had "shocked" the industry.
He said: "We want to make it easier for all farmers to meet the challenges of the transition and run successful businesses.
"But what I'm hearing from so many is that the turmoil of recent years has made farming incredibly tough.
"I recognise the anger when farmers came to protest in Westminster last year, but it wasn't just about tax."
He pointed to farmers battling input costs, tight margins, unfair supply chains, a shortage of skilled workers, growing concerns about extreme weather, and issues with access to European markets and with post-Brexit trade deals.
And he repeated Labour's claims of a £22 billion black hole in the nation's finances, left by the last government, which he said "meant we had to take immediate tough decisions across the economy to balance the books" including levying inheritance tax on farms over £1 million.
"We were shocked by the size of the financial black hole we were left to fill, and I'm sorry that some of the action we had to take shocked you in turn, but stable finances are the foundation of the economic growth needed," he said.
Heidi and Jonathan Smith, farmers from Oxfordshire who hope to hand their farm down to their children, also dismissed the "new deal" announcements as they joined the protest outside the Oxford Farming Conference.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Mrs Smith said: "What new deal? Is there a new deal? Tell me?"
She joined other farmers at the protest to say the only issue they want to see on the table is "inheritance tax", adding that Environment Secretary Steve Reed's announcement speech "doesn't bare any relation to reality".
"They need to listen and they actually need to look at the figures properly and realise that its an industry that doesn't make a lot of income on their assets," she said, adding that the proposed changes will make farming unviable for the next generation.
On her children inheriting their farm, she said: "At the moment they wouldn't be able to afford the inheritance tax without selling a huge chunk of the farm and once you've sold that huge chunk of land what are they going to make their income on. The threshold is ridiculous."
Mr Smith added that the Government should raise the threshold for the tax to farms worth £10 million, saying: "For commercial farms, we've got this climate emergency going on as well. We've had two of the worst years we've ever had in the last three years so it's pretty grim out there. The idea of coming up with more money for inheritance cover is ridiculous."
Future of Farming
Environment Secretary Steve Reed has confirmed the Government will take steps to unlock "precision breeding" technology, a form of genetic engineering that is similar to selective breeding but quicker and more precise, for agriculture.
"Precision breeding offers huge potential to transform the plant breeding sector in England, enabling innovative products to be commercialised in years, instead of taking decades.
"I can confirm today, we will introduce secondary legislation to Parliament by the end of March, unlocking new precision breeding technology that will allow farmers to grow crops that are more nutritious, resistant to pests and disease, resilient to climate change, and that benefit the environment," he said.
He said that farmers needed to be able to weather the storms of the future, including more severe and frequent flooding and droughts with climate change, pressures on land use, strains on water supplies and rising geopolitical tensions.
"Food production will always be the primary purpose of the farming sector, but for all farm businesses, tenants, uplands and others to stay viable in an increasingly uncertain world and make sure they can keep producing the food we all need, they must be able to profit from other activities," he said.
He pledged at the Oxford Farming Conference that the Government would speed up the planning system to help farmers build bigger chicken sheds, expand polytunnels, set up farm shops and make it easier for farm businesses to connect renewables to the grid.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed told the Oxford Farming Conference that while producing food was the primary process of farming: "Restoring nature is vital to food production, not in competition with it.
"Healthy soils, rich in nutrients and organic matter, abundant pollinators and clean waters are essential for sustainable food production.
"They are the foundations farm businesses rely on to produce high crop yields and turn over a profit. Without nature, we cannot have long term food security," he warned.
He said the Government was investing the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production, and would be working with the sector to evaluate what has worked and what has not, to make improvements to the programme.