A petition signed by more than 270,000 members of the public has been handed in to 10 Downing Street by NFU President Tom Bradshaw and NFU Cymru President Aled Jones, on behalf of the four UK farming unions, urging government to ditch its devastating family farm tax.

The campaign was launched following announcements by Chancellor Rachel Reeves during the Budget last October, which dealt a hammer blow to farming families nationwide with changes to Agriculture Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR). After decades of tightening margins, record inflation, increased production costs and extreme weather, many farmers and growers are at breaking point and simply will not be able to afford the increased tax bill they will now face.  

Evidence from the NFU, in consultation with former Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) economists to inform analysis of the impacts of APR reforms on commercial family farms, found that up to 75% of working farms could be affected, with some facing tax bills of £100,000s.

And just this week, the OBR produced a new report saying that government changes to inheritance tax (IHT) on farms will likely leave elderly farmers horribly exposed, with no time to manage their way through the new policy.

With the likely loss of family farm businesses as a result of this tax, alongside increases in employment costs also announced in the Budget, there a real risk to UK food production. 

Today (Saturday 25 January), events co-ordinated by the NFU, NFU Cymru, NFU Scotland and Ulster Farmers' Union, will take place across the UK as part of a National Day of Unity. Farmers will gather in towns and cities to thank the British public for their support in this campaign and to underline that the farming industry will continue to fight in the face of this unjust policy until the tax is subject to proper scrutiny.

In a statement, the four Presidents of the UK farming unions said: "The public in huge numbers, more than 270,000, have signed this family farm tax petition expressing their anger and frustration at the utter contempt shown by the government for the people who produce the nation's food. It gives us great strength to know that the public are backing British farming at this critical moment in time.

"The industry is not taking this lying down. The government has woken a sleeping giant, as our mass lobby of MPs in Westminster and the farmer led rally in Whitehall have demonstrated.

"Tomorrow, we go again. The National Day of Unity provides another opportunity to call on the government to overturn this abhorrent policy. It's a day to come together for everyone who believes that Britain's family farms, and the high-quality food they produce, deserve better.

"Farmers at events across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will be on hand to speak with the public to explain why changes to APR and BPR stand to punish food-producing businesses, destroying generations of work from hard-pressed farming families and changing the face of our rural communities forever.

"Government must take action. We're asking the Chancellor to listen to farmers and meet with us to hear and fully understand our very real concerns. Rest assured, the UK farming unions will not sit quietly and let this go – we will continue fighting because this is not just about our farms, but our families, our future and your food."