A perspective on UK farming

Last year saw UK magazine, Farmers Weekly, reach an important milestone of 90 years in production. It is an impressive feat to be proud of. “We reprinted the very first edition in full, which was a trip down memory lane,” said Andrew.

“The cover was the only colour photograph and, while a lot of the topics were different to today’s, there were familiar themes. Fundamentally, the publication was about being a critical friend to British farming, as it remains today.

“If the first editor, Frank Prewett, came back there'd be a lot that he'd recognise in Farmers Weekly now, although he'd be a bit bamboozled by all the technological developments in the past 90 years, of course,” said Andrew.

Inheritance tax anger

One hot topic that has made headlines in the farming publication is the inheritance tax introduced by the Labour Government, Andrew explained: “The new inheritance tax is still causing huge controversy. The Government says that the number of farms affected is small, while the farming lobby groups and farmers on the ground who've talked to their accountants, and those who would regard themselves as having a small-to-medium-sized business, say that's not the case and they're going to be caught for large sums.” Adding context, Andrew said: “The first £1m of assets is tax free, and then there are other reliefs that remain in place, including relief on your primary dwelling. Labour Party spinners say that some people will be able to transfer up to £3m tax free, but I was speaking to a large rural accountancy firm and they say they've only found one client so far for whom that will be the case. When you think about the value of the land, livestock, crops, machinery, pensions, cash in the bank, it all adds up pretty quickly for a lot of farming businesses. It's causing real concern for people who are thinking about succession and particularly for that older generation who, up until last November, were advised to retain ownership of the land so that it would pass to the next generation seamlessly.”

The sudden screeching of a U-turn on that advice means that successors are going to be landed with a big tax bill, said Andrew. He continued: “And that's what's causing a lot of the anger – the change in policy without the time to adapt and to think about what the future now holds. Given the larger scale of British farms, on average, compared to Ireland, upwards of 89,000 farmers could be affected. We can have a debate about what the definition of a farmer is, but there’s a big chunk of those people who would be deriving their main income from agriculture and would consider themselves professional farmers.”

Livestock prices beefed up

The Farmers Weekly editor reflected positively on ‘record-breaking’ cattle prices in the UK: “The very significant £6/kg threshold dead weight was passed a couple of weeks ago (at time of interview) although some of the bigger producers are seeing prices well in advance of that – I'm told up to £6.50/kg. That’s an unprecedented, record-breaking price.”
He acknowledged the air of apprehension that goes in tandem with such price fluctuations.

“There's a little bit of fear, as there always is, when you see a spike in prices about how long it can last, what it's going to do to consumption and when it will fall. But the analysts seem to be saying – based on Irish exports, based on the slow ability to grow the national herd here, and the rest of the world being quite short of beef as well – that these high prices could be here to stay for a good time yet.”

Trade fears

In relation to UK trade deals, Andrew had this to say: “We've signed post-Brexit trade deals with Australia and New Zealand under Boris Johnson's premiership. There was significant concern at that time because the tariff protection was going to reduce year on year. But that is reliant on their ability to send greater amounts of meat to the UK. So far, that doesn't seem to be the case. Worldwide protein supplies are pretty tight at the moment.

“Now the big fear, of course, is what happens with China, because those southern hemisphere major exporters are selling most of their produce there. If any trade war erupted between them and China, we could then be the recipient of a great deal more meat.”

Andrew said he understands that Labour is ‘very keen to improve relations with the EU again’ and do a deal on dynamic equivalence around animal medicines and veterinary agreements that might help smooth the passage for animal medicines into the EU.
“If we could reduce the paperwork for the flow of livestock between the UK and Ireland and the rest of the EU, for those UK farmers who would be sending live animals each way across the border, that would be a real help,” he said.

At the same time, there are those within the Labour Government who would like to keep President Donald Trump as a friend by initiating a trade deal with the US, he said, adding: “Our environment secretary, Steve Reid, expressed an aspiration about that, while also saying that he would want to protect farmers and our high food-production standards. There's always a bit of producer nerves when a trade deal is mooted because obviously that's a bone of contention about us keeping their produce out or keeping quite a bit of it out. So, no certainties, but a lot to keep an eye on right now.”

Brexit non-issue

On Brexit, Andrew said it was interesting to note how little the issue was raised over the course of the general election last year. “Neither of the main political parties wanted to reopen that can of worms. They regard it as a done deal,” he said. “But, of course, it isn't. It's an ongoing conversation with pros and cons on both sides. For British farmers, with everything happening in domestic politics, I wouldn't say relations with the EU are in the top-10 of things they are thinking about, unless they happen to be within that small niche that are trading directly or part of a cooperative for whom the EU is a major customer.”

Farmer sentiment survey

Farmers Weekly recently conducted a survey on UK farmer attitudes and Andrew touched on some of the main findings: “The biggest threat identified for farming in 2025 was government policy, with extreme weather as the biggest problem last year.

“It's not just inheritance tax. It is the rapid withdrawal of the legacy area payments and a stuttering introduction of the replacement environmental payments,” he added.

But, putting politics to one side, and looking at the markets, Andrew said: “We have touched on excellent beef and lamb prices. Arable, however, is in the doldrums. That's a bigger proportion of farmers in the UK than in Ireland. The price of feed for livestock production has dropped, but wheat prices are giving a marginal return, at best, and we've seen a 13 per cent drop year on year in tractor sales. That tells a lot. Arable farmers are going to suffer the biggest decline in direct payments. They’re going to be capped in England at €7,500 for this year. That will damage cashflow badly and is very worrying for our arable sector.”