This morning (January 9th, 2025) you may have noticed something odd about Oxford High Street. Around 100 tractors lined the centre of the road, some even blocking traffic and causing congestion. Today local farmers drove their tractors into the city centre to protest against the Family Farm Tax that was proposed this past autumn by the UK government. Tractor horns could be heard up and down the high street as protesters held signs that read “Fight the Tax”, “Save Our Farms”, and “Stop the Farm Tax”. Their protest occurred as the Defra Secretary was set to speak at the Oxford Farming Conference later in the morning. The annual Oxford Farming Conference brings together people from a diverse range of sectors including agriculture, rural communities, and the food sector, in order to connect people and provide discussions and solutions for the farming community.
But these farmers are protesting the speech of Secretary Reed, challenging him “to ‘come out and talk to real farmers’” according to the Farmers Guardian. Metcalf-Fisher, Director of External Affairs at Countryside Alliance, told GB News that Secretary Reed was inside delivering a speech at farmers when he should be listening to them. The protesters are calling for a meeting between the government and farmers across the country to discuss the tax changes.
The Family Farm Tax is set to be implemented in April 2026. It will heavily restrict the Agricultural Property Relief which exempts farmland from inheritance taxes. The purpose of this decision, as stated by the UK government, is to help raise money to fix public finances such as the NHS, social care, and our other public services. The UK government states that its goal is still to protect small family farms from unfairly high inheritance taxes. It adds that it is committed to supporting farmers and rural communities, including helping families to pass their land on to the next generation.
This decision has sparked an uproar from farmers across the country, resulting in many protests similar to the one today in Oxford. For example, a similar protest occurred in East Yorkshire, where about 85 tractors, along with supporters, protested against the tax changes. Another protest occurred in Westminster, where farmers from across the country, including Lincolnshire and Newark, turned out to protest the tax and voice their concerns over the recent autumn budget announcement in Parliament.
Farmers are key allies for maintaining our countryside’s health and ensuring food security. For example, farmers help tackle climate change by improving soil health for carbon sequestration, utilising efficient irrigation systems, and managing their land to protect biodiversity. Farmers are concerned about this tax because, as the Liberal Democrats state, “there are thousands of families across the UK with farms that are worth a lot on paper, but who are earning less than minimum wage”. This is especially true in light of the rising costs of fertiliser, equipment, and feed bills. Farmers state that this tax will cause family farms to be forced to sell their land, likely to private equity firms who will not care for and protect the countryside in the same way. This tax also comes at a key time when climate change is increasingly causing adverse, extreme weather events that affect food supplies nationally. Farmers and other political parties, such as the Liberal Democrats, state that there are alternative tax plans to help increase funding for public services without causing harm to local farmers’ livelihoods.
The actions taken by farmers today and across the country in recent months demonstrate the concerns surrounding the new Budget introduced by the UK government. Farmers are protesting to have a seat at the table, wanting to discuss these taxes and voice their opinions directly to their government representatives. With farmers not backing down, the UK government will likely need to be willing either to move on the inheritance tax or to “tackle a long list of farmers’ other commercial concerns that affect their operation and future of their businesses.”