The NFU used its conference today to call on the government to set a new course for British food and farming, starting with a reset in the relationship with the nation’s food producers – the farming families who are still reeling after the Chancellor’s disastrous Budget.
In his first opening address at the NFU’s annual conference, being held in Westminster, NFU President Tom Bradshaw highlighted how the cashflow crisis, botched agricultural transition and rock bottom business confidence, compounded by the hammer blow of the unexpected family farm tax, are preventing investment and growth – a key mission for this government.
Speaking to more than 700 members, politicians, and stakeholders at the conference, as well as hundreds more online, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “Our conference this year is framed around the foundations for the future. However hard things are, we must meet the challenges ahead.
“There were only 87 words in Labour’s manifesto about farming, but some of those words gave us hope for the future; policies on imports, binding targets for British food for the public sector, a recognition that food security is national security.
“We recognise these are still early days for a new government, but new ministers had hardly found their way to their offices when they broke their first promise. And it’s one which overshadows all else, wiping out our ability to plan, to invest and, often, to hope. It hangs over our farms, our families, our futures: the family farm tax.
“This policy is morally wrong. I have received hundreds of desperate messages, taken hundreds of panicked calls.
“I worry about the tenant farmer whose home and livelihood may be taken away, because a landlord is often better off taking their land back in hand. I worry about former tenants too. People who have scraped everything together, risked it all to finally buy their farm and are now facing an unpayable bill.
“I worry about the next generation, whose entire future in the industry is now in question.
“Most of all I fear for elderly farmers. This isn’t just money, this is blood, sweat and tears. The farm was their life’s work, but as they have grown older, the farm has also become their pension – because that’s what they were told to do. That all changed without warning.
“The family farm tax is also economically wrong. The claim made by Treasury that 73% of farmers will be unaffected by this tax has long been debunked.
“And it’s not just the NFU that thinks the government’s figures are wrong. All major opposition parties have said so. The agricultural valuers say so. The CBI says so. Even Labour’s own tax advisers say so. All of the UK’s major supermarkets have called for the government to pause and consult.
“We commend the principled Labour MPs who have had the decency to speak out.
“What the Chancellor has said, is that nobody has offered alternative solutions. So, last week, all the UK farming unions and several other organisations took a solution into Treasury. And what happened? They simply sent us away, with the sound of a slamming door ringing in our ears.
“And we will not go away, we will not stop, we will not give in. We will fight the family farm tax until ministers do the right thing.
“Then we can move on. Because it’s not like producing the nation’s food has gotten any easier in the last 12 months. I have never seen such a crisis of confidence in our industry.
“This government needs a reset with farmers, where they face up to the reality of how much the industry is struggling. Bad policy, geopolitics, unprecedented weather have left some sectors of UK farming in the worst cashflow crisis for generations. Many farmers are genuinely worried about how they’ll make it to the end of 2025.
“The very building blocks of the new ELMs system aren’t working, never mind the patchy delivery of it. For so many farmers, from tenants to landowners, from the uplands to the lowlands, the Sustainable Farming Incentive remains a promise – not a reality.
“Today, we repeat our calls for an uplift in Higher Level Stewardship payments. I’m calling on Defra to urgently publish the full ELMs offer, and to commit to publishing transparency of progress within Defra and the impact assessments that we have repeatedly asked for, so we understand what this policy means for food production and what it will deliver for the environment.
“With the geopolitical situation and climate change, the government should be prioritising food security, as they promised to do before the election. It has the opportunity to set a new course.
“My focus remains on providing solutions for our industry. Today, we are launching our new policy blueprints – our detailed vision of what’s needed to underpin confident, sustainable, profitable farm businesses, whilst producing food for 70 million British people, protecting our precious countryside, and helping ministers achieve their policy aims. They are a win-win.
“For 117 years, the NFU has shown that when we work together, we so often get it right.
“In the last year alone, we have won a £60 million flood recovery fund for our industry, secured 45,000 seasonal worker visas for 2025, ensured fairer labelling rules for the egg industry during avian influenza outbreaks, and toughened the legislation on livestock worrying and equipment theft.
“The government now has a statutory duty to report on food security. New legislation has finally been laid in Parliament to ensure fair and transparent contracts for UK dairy farmers. Seven of the UK’s major retailers have added a ‘buy British button’ to their websites. And nearly half a million students have learnt about farming this year through NFU Education.
“But there is so much more to do. There is still time for this government to reset its relationship with farming and rural Britian, as Sir Keir Starmer told this conference he would in 2023.
“If ministers work in partnership with us to deliver these blueprints, and finally do the right thing on the family farm tax, then the foundations of the future will look a lot brighter.”