Delivering the Budget speech earlier today, Chancellor George Osborne announced high-profile measures for those with money in ISAs and private pensions. There were also cuts in income tax for those earning up to £100,000 under changes to tax free personal allowance.  

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Moves on petrol duty, set to rise in September, were postponed once more.  

However, responding to the announcement, the NFU said that, though a higher rate of Annual Investment Allowance would be a welcome thing for farmers, "It would have been better if George Osborne had made it a permanent fixture, [as] permanence would have helped the industry better plan for the future."

Newly appointed NFU president Meurig Raymond said on Wednesday, "Despite the reasonably good news on the investment allowance for plant and machinery, any incentives for capital infrastructure investment were sadly lacking in today's budget. This is all the more frustrating given that few farming businesses are in a situation to benefit from the continued reductions in corporation tax. While the Chancellor talks about adding resilience and balance to the economy, farmers need to invest in capital items, and not just plant and machinery."

He continued, "The NFU applauds the government’s intention, this autumn, to publish a long-term plan to protect the country from future flooding. Indeed, we highlighted the need for a root and branch review of the government’s flood management policy in the NFU Flooding Manifesto. However, it is not yet clear whether the announcement of £140m of funding to repair and restore flood defences includes or is in addition to the £130m announced in February."

Apprenticeship grants were also extended, which Mr Raymond said would be "welcome" news for the farming industry, though he added, "The challenge for farming will be to get its fair share from the extra £85m that the Chancellor has announced."

The NFU president concluded, "In other good news, the UK drinks industry will be pleased with various measures including freezing duty on Scotch whisky and cider, in which he singled out weather affected cidermakers in the West Country."

Beer duty was also brought down by 1 percent in the Budget announcement.

However, environmentalists had less to celebrate in the budget announcement. Ben Stafford, a spokesperson for WWF UK said that, though the Chancellor's announcement on flood maintenance is welcome, "Mr Osborne missed an opportunity to set out a longer term approach to tackling the increased risk of flooding, which should include incentivising farmers and others to manage land so that water is retained upstream for longer, rather than rushing into our lowlands and urban areas." 

Stafford added, "Using our natural assets better to mitigate the worst impacts of extreme weather is the right long-term approach for the economy, communities and the environment."

The WWF spokesperson was also concerned by announcements that the carbon price floor would be frozen – which Osborne said was intended to keep energy prices low. Stafford warned that Wednesday's Budget Statement "Will have left those in the growing low carbon sector uncertain about the Government's support for their businesses."

He continued, "Mr Osborne could have sent a strong signal that he backs both UK leadership on climate change and the industries that will take us to a low carbon future by confirming his support for the Fourth Carbon Budget and its ambitious emission reduction targets for the 2020s.  That announcement did not come today."

"While the competitiveness concerns linked to the UK carbon floor price are understandable, the Government's decision to freeze the floor price, combined with other recent policy decisions, is improving the economic outlook for the UK's polluting coal power stations.  The Government must come up with a clear plan to avoid prolonging the life of our dirtiest power stations at a time when we need to be moving rapidly towards a low carbon future."