Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance (Image: Supplied)
The government achieved something remarkable in the budget in uniting not just the perpetually divided Conservatives, but also every other political party and even Labour voters against its Family Farm Tax.
There is visceral anger in the farming community that everything that many have worked for and simply want to pass on to the next generation is at risk and farmers have the power to withhold production and empty supermarket shelves.
However, being able to do something does not mean it is always the best thing to do.
The public are currently on the side of farmers, but as Just Stop Oil has shown very clearly you can lose public support very quickly if your protests target the wrong people in the wrong way.
On Tuesday I will be joining tens of thousands of others outside Downing Street sending a message to the right people, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.
They were the ones who targeted farmers in the budget and they are the people who have the power to reconsider how they implement their policy so as not to destroy the family farms they vowed to protect.
If they refuse to budge, and the government’s message so far is not encouraging, then food shortages are likely and food security will suffer. Firstly, because farmers with their backs against the wall will take radical action.
It is difficult to argue with people who have little to lose.
For those who face the breakup of farms which have been in the same families for generations increasingly radical protest will become the only logical response.
Secondly, because in the long term the sale of family farms will not just transfer food production to other farmers.
Much of the demand for land in the UK is coming from non-agricultural sources.
Energy production, carbon capture and rewilding are all growth areas and in many cases much more profitable than farming.
The government’s attack on family farms risks a future when our green and pleasant land looks very different, and where our food security relies even more heavily on imported food in an unstable world.