The government can count itself lucky that the farmers’ army that marched on London earlier this week did not tip trailer-loads of manure at its door. No doubt some considered it, such was their anger at the Chancellor’s announcement of changes to inheritance tax on farm land and property.

The clamour from irate farmers has been so widely reported that only hermits will have missed their main grievance: that the exemption farmers have enjoyed since Margaret Thatcher abolished inheritance tax on their businesses in 1984 is to end. As of April 2026, farms valued at over £1million will pay 20% tax on anything over that figure (compared to 40% for the general population, at a considerably lower threshold), and they will be given 10 years in which to pay it back.

To most of us, that doesn’t sound such a big deal – generous in fact, especially when you consider that many of the country’s wealthiest individuals deliberately buy agricultural land in order to avoid paying “death duty” when they die. Yet while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) calls this new regime “fair and proportionate”, many farmers, especially those making little profit, are in despair.

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The problem, in essence, is that while farms are often asset rich, they can also be cash poor. With their average return on capital a mere 0.5%, it’s no wonder thousands dread the day this new levy bites. One guest on the BBC’s Today programme cited the situation of an 80-year-old whose 450-acre farm is valued at £8million, yet whose profit last year was £19,000. If he were to die after April 5, 2026, his heirs would face a demand for £1.2million. Apparently, he is contemplating taking his own life before that deadline, to protect his family from an unpayable bill.

Mike Davies, an arable farmer near Insch in Aberdeenshire, told STV that his 500-acre family farm is “just about big enough to give someone a modest income of around £40-50,000, including the subsidies we get a year… But you slap on inheritance taxes, which in our case would be around £500,000, then you can’t eat and pay off the tax bill. So, then the only option would be to sell off some of your land, but then you don’t have a profitable farm.” It is a definition of Catch 22.

Defending its decision, the government is adamant that annually only 27% of farms - that’s roughly 500 - will find themselves paying inheritance tax. Challenging this, the NFU claims two-thirds of family farms will be adversely affected.

Given the exemptions and allowances available, it is possible that the figure above which tax will be imposed could be closer to three million than one. In addition, one of the benefits of abolishing the exemption is that speculation – often by the very rich feathering their nests – has pushed the price of land sky-high, preventing younger folk from entering the profession.

Even so, the rage Rachel Reeves’ announcement has aroused shows just how vulnerable and, indeed, persecuted the agricultural world is feeling right now. Tom Bradshaw, President of the NFU (National Farmers’ Union), says he has never seen such anger from the farming community.

Farmers say their livelihoods are under threat Farmers say their livelihoods are under threat (Image: free) Despite all their protestations, the chance of Rachel Reeves rethinking her decision is remoter than a croft on St Kilda. Whereas the axing of the winter fuel allowance has drawn widespread condemnation, since it affects some of the most needy in society, people don’t care about farmers. Most never give them a thought, but if they do, the idea of landowners, whether in mucky boots or living in the Bahamas, is synonymous with unearned and unjustifiable wealth. So even though Starmer’s government has won an unprecedented number of rural seats, it is unlikely to budge.

Yet the fury shown during the London protests is not, as it might appear at first glance, the self-pity of a pampered group about to lose its privileges. It is, rather, a symptom of genuine panic and distress, the behaviour of people who can’t take much more. And certainly, what farmers have had to contend with in recent years has been challenging. Quite apart from the escalating impact of climate change, with droughts, heatwaves and floods destroying swathes of crops and land, high among its troubles is the punitively low price paid for agricultural produce by supermarkets.

In some instances farmers’ remuneration is so pitiful they’d be better off turning their fields into glamping sites. And while environmental directives, among them rewilding and fallowing, have brought welcome changes to the ways in which land is managed, for some they have been cumbersome and costly to embrace.

Although it’s hard to forget that many farmers voted for Brexit, they clearly did not anticipate its outcome. Not only do they now have to navigate a labyrinthine and expensive bureaucracy if they wish to continue trading with our main markets in Europe, but the prospect of cheaper foreign imports from rivals such as New Zealand represents a serious threat to some livelihoods. Then there’s the dearth of seasonal labour. To compound this, recent news that the government intends to speed up the process of ending the EU's system of direct agricultural payments has further raised blood pressure.

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All in all, this is a sector under the cosh and feeling unloved, which is ironic given that its smooth functioning is crucial to each of us. One of the reasons farmers received such generous subsidies after the Second World War was the awareness of our need for greater food security.

That still pertains, but Reeves’s budget has had the effect of alienating this essential and powerful constituency. For an estimated return to the Treasury of about £200 million a year (or by some estimates £300-500 million annually by the end of a decade), her inheritance tax mandate has reinforced the notion of a government run by city-folk who do not understand, and do not care about, rural voters - especially those who are not well-off.

Of course nobody can or would argue against a fair taxation system. But when it threatens the survival of farms passed down the generations, whose contribution to the country’s economy and well-being is priceless, it seems short-sighted at best, if not ill-judged. Now the tractors are gone from Westminster’s lawn, the government appears for the moment to have won the battle; the war is another matter entirely.

Rosemary Goring is a columnist and author. Her most recent book is Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots