Farmer Focus: The inheritance tax fight isn’t over yet

You could be forgiven for thinking that farmers have lost interest and abandoned the fight against Labour’s inheritance tax raid. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Anyone who has travelled a rural road over the past couple of months will have seen why.

Farm machinery working all hours of the day and night, during a very busy time of year.

See also: How late is too late to drill oilseed rape this autumn?

About the author

Billy Lewis

Billy Lewis farms 140ha in North Herefordshire in partnership with his parents. They keep Hereford cattle, sheep and grow combinable crops. He also contract farms an additional 110ha. Cropping includes wheat, oats and spring beans.

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My hope is that once everybody is up to date with their workloads, as a community we can regroup and take the fight back to Westminster.

In August, while hauling straw in what by then was the early hours of the morning, I was trundling back and forth past countless other tractors with similar objectives.

I thought to myself, we truly work in a bonkers industry.

Yet, according to Mr Starmer, none of this fits the criteria of a “working person”…

Of course, it’s all change in Starmer’s ministerial line-up. Steve Reed has been promoted to secretary of state for housing.

I’m sure he won’t hesitate to start building all over the same farmland he was previously tasked with protecting and enhancing. In his own words: “It’s time to build, baby, build.”

On the plus side, we now have Emma Reynolds at the helm of Defra. She’s already been out at agricultural shows, posting pictures on social media and has met with the NFU.

At the least, this is a more encouraging start than her predecessor managed.

The real test will be whether she’s willing to go beyond towing the party line and engage in some honest, grown-up dialogue, so we can finally start making progress on the challenges faced by our industry.

Away from the woes of politics, farming has felt far less stressful than this time last year.

Harvest wrapped up early, cultivations have happened in a timely manner, cover crops are established, and this week we’ll be drilling legume fallows and herbal leys.

Once that’s complete, we’ll crack on with planting the cereals. I am aiming to turn our full attention back towards the livestock by the end of September.