NFU Scotland is organising a rally outside Holyrood for November 28, ahead of the Scottish Government’s budget on December 4, in response to the hammer-blows the agricultural community face following the Budget.

The NFUS presidential team and board of directors will also head to Westminster later this month to illustrate their full backing of the country's farmers as the industry worries about its future after last week's announcements.

They will join the other UK farming unions to raise their concerns about the devastating reform of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) that have been announced, at the event in London, which is being organised by NFU, on Tuesday, November 19.

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Mr Kennedy said: "The UK Government has delivered a budget that threatens food production, family farm businesses and the environment. They promised they would not put these at risk and they have done the complete opposite by imposing impossible tax burdens on family farms.

"They have also effectively washed their hands of a funding ring-fenced safety net that’s been in place for over 50 years when passing the budget in a lump sum to Scottish Government.

“For a Government that has said in the past ‘food security is national security’ it has demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of how food is produced and by whom. Our members and others across the sector and wider society feel rightly betrayed.

“On Thursday, November 28 we are organising a rally to which we want all our members to attend to send a clear message to the Scottish Parliament and Government about the importance of securing future, multi-annual, ring-fenced funding for Scottish agriculture.

“The Scottish Government and Parliament now have a real opportunity to demonstrate that they do understand and will fully support a thriving Scottish agriculture sector.

“Let us be under no illusions, this is a monumental time for Scottish agriculture and we must rally and deliver for all impacted by these reckless decisions being taken by those who do not realise the full consequences of their actions.”

NFUS is also urging all members and everyone who wishes to, to write to their local MPs to call for an overturn of the APR and BPR decisions as well as signing the NFU petition.

To help with this they have created a letter template for individuals to use which is available from the newly created Budget Information Hub on their website www.nfus.org.uk

Farming across the UK is facing a vast array of challenges, with NFU president Tom Bradshaw, saying the proposals to change APR and BPR needed to be 'overturned, and fast'.

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Over 150,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to reverse its deeply controversial decision on APR.

Calls to overturn the tax change have gathered pace after the NFU launched a viral campaign.

Mr Bradshaw said: “Farmers have been left reeling from the changes announced in the budget which demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of how the British farming sector is shaped and managed.

“Farmers are rightly angry and concerned about their future and the future of their family farms, having been reassured by minsters in the lead up to the budget that APR and BPR changes were not on the table."

The NFU said that the headline figures indicating only one in four British farms will be affected by this tax change is ‘misleading’.

They stated that 'very few' working farms would come under the £1m threshold, but significant numbers of smallholdings and houses with grazing ground would.