The UK only has just over 50% food security (Image: Supplied)
will impact many more than Government let on, but that’s the tip of the iceberg with declining according to an agricultural lecturer and lifelong farmer.
Given the assets needed to run a farm, an agricultural expert and Derbyshire based Councillor believes more farmers will reach the than expected, making the industry “scared” to invest.
Chairman of Ashover Parish Council Ed Willmot said: “Even on a small farm, if you’ve got three big tractors, you’ve got over £700,000 worth of kit there straight away.
“I think the total number that will be pulled into this inheritance tax position will far exceed what the government are saying.
“Within the industry, people are saying we’re going to cut back. We’re not going to go out and invest like we possibly otherwise would have done. People are scared to.”
He spoke of a despondent feeling within the industry about the potential financial struggle, and a psychological impact for future generations.
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Thousands of farmers staged a protest against inheritance tax (Image: Getty)
Mr Willmot said: “Everyone I’ve talked to is very, very despondent. Young people are saying, why bother? Why should I settle myself with a massive debt that I’m going to have to pay off on what is a relatively low-profit industry?
“They’re going to turn around and say it’s just not worth it. It’s like pushing a boulder up a hill.”
At a town council meeting last week he noted the 200 attendees believed there was a solution: adding a penny to income tax to target a broad population instead of a small community.
Mr Willmot said: “The whole floor of the meeting was saying if you put a penny on income tax, you would have saved this black hole. You’d have filled it.”
A government spokesperson said: “Our reform to Agricultural and Business Property Relief will impact around 500 estates a year. For these estates, inheritance tax will be at half the rate paid by others, with 10 years to pay the liability back interest free. This is a fair and balanced approach which fixes the public services we all rely on.”
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Some local farmers believed 1p tax could solve the problem (Image: Supplied)
It compounds the problems for the UK’s agricultural industry, as he highlighted major concerns about food security, which is just over 50 percent.
was previously at 60 percent for staple foods, but it’s on a downwards trajectory, or “In other words, we’re not producing enough to feed the nation”.
He understands concerns future generations may have about needing to sell assets to pay a tax bill, instead of being able to invest in making more food.
Talking about a conversation with MPs, he said: “The answer was we can import it. When you see what the weather’s done to certain parts of Spain and Portugal, are they going to import food if they’re going to be short themselves?”
He boiled down reduced food security to an increasing population with a loss of agricultural land, which has been accelerated by housing demand and schemes such as rewilding, where government pay subsidies to plant wildflower meadows.
Ed believes there is a middle ground: “I don’t deny this [rewilding] is not a good thing, to look at an environment that suits all classes of life, be it insect life, bird life, and so on. [Pay for it], but in areas which are not prime food producers.”
He noted we should avoid this in high-producing cereal areas, like Norfolk, the Fenlands or Yorkshire.
Farmers of the future protested in London against the tax (Image: Getty)
The government spokesperson added: “Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast – we have committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years, including more money than ever for sustainable food production, and we are developing a 25-year farming roadmap, focusing on how to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.”
Climate change is another factor in food security. Farmers are used to adapting to weather, but Ed recognised the impact its had on yields, such as this year’s wheat harvest which was “very much reduced”.
He detailed the impact it’s had recently: “We’re having a period of weather over the last few years, which has put tremendous pressure on being able to produce food efficiently and, shall we say, in an abundance.
“We can cope with weather usually, but when you add that to other factors, it makes the equation quite scary.”
Ed Willmot is a lecturer for Peak District National Park in environmental studies, a trainer for land based studies with Lantra, and is the Chairman of Ashover Parish Council.