Farmers have targeted supermarket food distribution centres and blocked roads (Image: PA Images)
Farmers have blocked roads and targeted supermarket supply chains as they protest against the Government’s .
Tractor convoys targeted and distribution centres in Northwich, Cheshire, and Reading, Berkshire, while dozens of farm vehicles joined a go-slow convoy on the A303 near Andover in Hampshire.
Protests have broken out in other counties, including Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire, in mass actions organised by the campaign group Farmers to Action.
Kurt Morton, 39, was part of the A303 convoy on Friday. A fifth-generation mixed farmer, he said didn’t want to be protesting.
He added: “Us farmers, you have to push us before we ignite, but we have been pushed all the way along now. We don’t want to be doing this.”
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Farmers leave Thruxton Race Circuit in Hampshire for the tractor rally. (Image: PA)
Mr Morton said changes to agricultural IHT could impact his children’s ability to continue his family’s farming tradition.
The farmer said his 600-acre farm in Hampshire is worth a lot of money and estimated that tax changes could cost him from £1million to £1.5m.
He said: “We have no money and don’t earn anything from it. We are not greedy as farmers; we just want to make a decent living… They’ve destroyed us as an industry.”
Phillip Weston, 39, helped to organise a go-slow convoy at a centre in Northampton which handles most of the Midlands’ food distribution for two supermarket giants.
The arable farmer told the Telegraph farmers wanted to raise awareness when lorries stopped delivering food from such centres and food failed to hit the shelves. He said: “It’s a warning shot.”
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Farmers make their way along the A303 near Andover. (Image: PA)
Friday’s protests come after tractors rolled up outside the Examinations School in Oxford on Thursday as Environment Secretary Steve Reed addressed the Oxford Farming Conference inside. They .
An estimated last November to protest against the changes to agricultural inheritance tax.
The Government claims its new £1m threshold means the change won’t affect three-quarters of farms.
Farming groups believe this is an underestimate, and the new rules could impact up to half of all working farms.
More tractor protests are planned outside supermarkets next week, and a day of action will be organised by the National Farmers Union targeting Labour constituencies in the offing.
A Government spokesperson said: “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.
“We are developing a 25-year farming roadmap, focusing on how to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.
“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.”