Small Farms and Family Businesses

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

Thursday 12th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Leicester, on securing this debate at such an appropriate time, with so many farmers feeling the need to demonstrate outside this House yesterday and a few weeks ago. The small farmers and family farmers of this country are feeling betrayed, unwanted and targeted. I compliment the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Dillington, on his moving speech describing the farming community.

The recent Budget has sent shockwaves through the industry as lifelong plans for farming business have been turned upside down. The next three years see three added burdens. The unexpected announcement of the delinking of basic payment scheme payments was disappointing, as it was a direct subsidy to farmers. A family farm that received £19,000 this year would have expected £14,000 next year, but now that has been capped at £7,200.

In 2026 we will see the introduction of the of the APR and BPR capping. While the change is understandable to close an IHT loophole for large individual investor landowners, the new limit of £1 million is far too low and adds large IHT bills to many productive family farms.

I repeat the comment by the noble Earl, Lord Devon, that in 2027 another increase to the cost base of farms will be the interest reduction of the UK carbon border adjustment mechanism—or, as it is known to farmers, the fertiliser tax—which is anticipated to add £50 per tonne to nitrogen fertiliser, and a typical 400 acre or 500 acre farm uses about 60 tonnes a year.

There has been much debate on the figure that the Treasury has used for the number of farmers who will be affected. The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers has stated that 73 farmers was a perfectly accurate figure but was entirely uninformative. A farm is made up of not just agricultural land but machinery, livestock, deadstock, corn in the store and many other assets. Has the Treasury looked into the number of farming estates in the past few years that have claimed BPR as well as APR? That would be much more reflective of the working farms to be affected.

The CAAV issued a discussion paper in November, a detailed document taking into account the many different factors regarding the farming business. It acknowledges that it has made certain assumptions, but its conclusion was that the measure would affect 60,000 producing farms over the next 30 years, which is a generational change period. On average, that is 2,000 farms per year, which is 1,500 more than the Treasury thinks. That is why the farming community is fearful of this change.

I will not report the figures given by the noble Lord, Lord Northbrook, from the CLA, but they make stark reading for the rural community. For those farming business owners who can plan for the future, there is definitely mitigating action to be taken, which is welcome, but the risk from April 2026 is that, for those farms that have planned on the basis of APR relief and are relying on their farms to provide for their retirement, there is no time to change so they will suffer greatly. I again ask the Minister, as I did in the Budget debate: please could the Treasury do an impact assessment of these changes and engage with professional bodies within the agricultural sector, such as the CAAV and special agricultural accountancy firms, to provide a broader depth of the figures to the sector? I would also support the suggestion made in this debate by the noble Lord, Lord Londesborough, as a possible solution.

The farming industry welcomes the additional funding announcements this week, but accessing environmental support is complex, not easy, as other Peers have stated. Farmers want a decent price for the products they produce so they can make a living that is above the minimum wage and can have spare funds to invest in their long-term future.