Transition Farmer: IHT threatens third-generation family farm

Farmers Weekly Transition Farmer, Eddie Andrew, is frustrated by the inheritance tax changes, which have thrown the farm’s plans into uncertainty.

We catch up with him in Yorkshire to find out how the farm business will navigate the rocky path ahead.

See also: All updates from Eddie Andrew

Eddie Andrew

Government plans to introduce inheritance tax (IHT) on agricultural assets from April 2026 threaten the future of the three-generation farm run by Eddie Andrew and his family.

As a Transition goal, and encouraged by Sir Keir Starmer’s pro-farming speech at the NFU conference in November 2023, the family secured a bank loan to construct a modern building for their 90-cow herd and followers, with milking robots and high welfare housing.

But with Eddie’s parents in their seventies, servicing a large loan and paying significant IHT that the prime minister had pledged not to introduce could cripple the business, even if it could be paid over 10 years.

“It feels like the maddest thing ever to finish the build as it’s simply a massive asset for incurring the IHT coming down the line,” admits Eddie.

“We took out an enormous loan, the farm’s biggest in the 70 years we have been farming here, we should never have trusted Keir Starmer’s promises that he wouldn’t bring in an inheritance tax.”

In constituencies with a Labour MP, Eddie urges farmers to invite that MP to the farm to explain the true implications of the government’s proposals.

“It was only when our MP came here that he really understood, he could see that we would have to be unbelievably profitable for the next 10 years to pay just the interest on the loan and the tax.”

Renewable energy

With last of the cubicles being installed in September, the shed is almost commissioned, with a different approach to utilise the roof to decarbonise the farm – another Transition goal.

Eddie had originally planned to install solar panels on the roof, but with the IHT threat looming, he couldn’t commit the funding.

Instead, local social enterprise Sheffield Renewables and SY Ecofit CIC will introduce solar anaerobic digestion through a community-owned green energy initiative.

SY Ecofit CIC will install 3MW of renewable energy at the farm, raising a community share offer to pay for the capital costs.

“It’s going to be amazing for the farm to buy all its electricity from the community, renewable energy and long-term security and price – no more surprises,” says Eddie.