Government's Actions Threaten Family Farms, According to Minette Batters: 'It Will Result in Their Elimination'
Baroness Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers' Union (NFU), has expressed her concerns over the effects of the latest budget on family-run farms in Britain. In an interview with the BBC's Today program, she highlighted the need for better solutions to ensure the economic security and sustainability of these farms.
Batters, who is a tenant on her 300-acre farm in Wiltshire, shared her personal concerns. If she were to own the farm, her children might have to sell land to pay inheritance tax upon her death. This, she noted, is a burden that private-equity businesses, celebrities, asset and fund managers, among others, can avoid when they buy land, as they can defer capital gains tax.
Farmers, Batters asserted, feel betrayed due to the lack of a coherent plan from the government for the past five years, leading to low farmer confidence. The transition to post-Brexit Environmental Land Management schemes has faced problems, and the entire grant system has been put on hold.
Batters' concerns extend to the advice given by the Treasury to the Government, which she described as an example of 'desktop economics'. She is worried about the advice given to ministers regarding the family-farm tax and believes that the institutional machine advising the Government is at a crossroads.
The Government, Batters pointed out, is the largest landowner in the country but does not have to pay inheritance tax. This, she believes, creates an unfair advantage for large corporations and institutions.
Batters hosted the BBC's Today program on her farm, the day of the NFU mass lobby and farming rally in Whitehall. She left the farm and headed to London, where she sat next to a farmer whose son was returning to the farm due to financial difficulties caused by the Budget.
Batters' phone has been busy with calls from farmers and media requests since her interview. She believes that the Government's need to balance the books should not come at the expense of farming entrepreneurs, who are struggling with negative trade deals and cost increases of up to 30% since the war in Ukraine.
Despite the challenges, Batters remains hopeful. She is a crossbench peer and a former NFU president who runs a beef farm and rural business in Wiltshire. The production team from the Today program arrived the afternoon before and left at 3.50am the next morning, capturing a day in the life of a farmer advocating for her community.
One concern during the live broadcast was the presence of Batters' dogs, but producer Sophie assured her it wouldn't matter in her slot. As Batters continues to advocate for family farms, her dogs remain a constant presence, symbolising the resilience and determination of farmers in the face of adversity.
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