Make no mistake — this isn’t just bad news for farmers

I never imagined that farmers like me would need to go to London in order to protect our future livelihoods, but here we are. Contrary to what the government would have you believe, the recently announced inheritance tax changes will impact a vast many — it isn’t just an elite few.

We live on my husband’s family farm in West Meon, Hampshire. My husband has been here for 51 of his 53 years — and it’s terrifying to think how our lives are going to change. My father-in-law is still working at the age 82, and we had all hoped the farm would, in time, pass down to our two daughters to continue producing good quality, farm-assured beef and lamb for local people to enjoy.

Now we will face selling off part of the farm to pay the so-called “tractor tax”. And the bleak reality that neither us nor our girls will be able to make a living through the farm moving forward.

Our family farming story began in 1939 when my husband’s maternal great-grandfather and grandfather died in the same year, leaving his grandmother a widow. She was left an inheritance which she decided to use to buy a small farm at the beginning of the Second World War, as she felt it would be the best place to bring up her two young daughters. In times of rationing, she was adamant her girls must have fresh milk; this started a passion for farming which she passed on to her daughter, my late mother-in-law, who then passed this to her son, my husband.

We feel this tax will take away all the hard work they put in. Apparently, there are benefits to living only an hour from London — but the downside is that farmland in Hampshire has a high value, meaning the level of IHT is large even on what is considered a small farm. It’s not our fault that land is in short supply, which in turn hikes up the value of ours.

We are happy to pay our fair share of income tax as our contribution to society. We never expect the farm to make a massive profit; it’s a way of life and each generation wants to leave the farm in a better condition for the next. This feels like a massive kick in the teeth. Farming is about more than making money: we are custodians of the land.

As a family, none of us have had a good night’s sleep since Rachel Reeves’s announcement. Most nights include a 3am cup of tea, to discuss what we can do. We have yet to come to a feasible conclusion.

Small family farms are generally the centre of the local rural community. The farms that have already been bought up by the city investors often don’t want to get involved with the rural community, local village events, parish councils, and so on. When farms are sold off, it will be these types of investors who are able to buy them — who will then be the parish councillors, the poppy sellers, the person who transports Father Christmas to the village school...?

Our neighbour is the fifth generation on his farm, he has also been chair of the parish council like his father and grandfather before him. He mows the recreation ground for local children to play on and was a key member of the village cricket and football team. Will a London investor do all that? It’s highly unlikely.

Non-farming people are saying, “Well, we have to pay IHT, so why not farmers?” But when a non-farmer passes away, they leave their money and property to whoever they wish and the beneficiary can look at it as a bit of a bonus amount of money to receive. When a farmer dies, it’s usually the next generation of farmers who will benefit from their estate. In most cases, if IHT has to be paid on that estate, some of the land will have to be sold. Those next-generation farmers will then lose the land they need to make a living. If each generation has to sell off a bit of land, how will they make a living? And will there be any land left by the end of all this?

The government has told us all not to worry — you can pay the IHT in instalments over the next 10 years. But what do they expect us to pay it with? Lots of farms have already had to diversify to make ends meet. We have a holiday cottage on the farm, converted from a redundant farm building.

The difference with most farms compared to other businesses is that we don’t set a price for our produce. We send beef animals off and the buyer tells us what they will pay us. Car dealers put a price on a car and the customer has to pay it if they want the car. We can’t just charge more to earn enough to pay the IHT.

Farms are vital for providing food for the country. What does the government want? Farmland sold off to the likes of the National Trust to rewild it and plant trees? We can’t eat them.