The Agri Brigade
I
F environment secretary Steve
Reed hoped farmer indignation at the government’s treatment of agriculture since its election had subsided over the new year, his hopes will have been dashed by a frosty reception at the recent Oxford Farming Conference. Farmers remain furious about inheritance tax being imposed on farmland in last October’s budget – but what else is driving their anger?
Reed’s speech, about his long-term vision for UK farming, was listened to in stony silence (except for brief applause at the government’s determination to develop “gene-edited” crops). His suggestion that “diversification” from food production was key to Labour’s “new deal” for farming only added to the gloom; many farmers have already diversified but still find their incomes under enormous strain.