The Farmers Fight

Allira

ps they freeze - I cut them into a suitable size for roasting, put them in a bag with some oil then freeze.

I parboil my parsnips, freeze them on trays, when totally frozen transfer into freezer bags.

The nice straight ones are ready for Christmas, the wonky ones will be used when we fancy with roasts.

silverlining48

I was in Aldi, GG, no parsnips last week, I had to do without.

Perhaps it’s a regional thing 🤷‍♀️

ps they freeze - I cut them into a suitable size for roasting, put them in a bag with some oil then freeze.

Well, we ate all ours (roasted) or else I could post you some!

I got a swede and carrots, cauliflour too. But no parsnips which I needed for my lovely lentil stew.

I was in Aldi, GG, no parsnips last week, I had to do without.

silverlining48

We should be eating seasonally, as we always did and
Strawberries are tasteless in winter.
I couldn’t find parsnips last week. Not sure why. They are or should be home grown.

Tesco had lovely parsnips last week.
And swede
And carrots

Out of interest wonder how ‘ they’ know what consumers demand? I have never been asked and I have done the shopping for nearly 60 years.

silverlining48

We should be eating seasonally, as we always did and
Strawberries are tasteless in winter.
I couldn’t find parsnips last week. Not sure why. They are or should be home grown.

Aldi’s and M & S have parsnips.

We should be eating seasonally, as we always did and
Strawberries are tasteless in winter.
I couldn’t find parsnips last week. Not sure why. They are or should be home grown.

silverlining48

Our farms only produce 60% of our food and have to import 40%. The majority of which is vegetables.
Why on earth are we not self sufficient in vegetables?

Because people now demand salad vegetables and strawberries in the middle of winter.
They demand avocados instead of swede.

When a Minister suggested people eat swede and carrots instead of avocados or similar, there was an outcry on GN suggesting how patronising that was.

Our farms only produce 60% of our food and have to import 40%. The majority of which is vegetables.
Why on earth are we not self sufficient in vegetables?

Surely small farmers will not be asked to pay inheritance tax.

Sarnia

Infuriated farmers will be protesting against Labour's 'Tractor Tax' opposite Downing Street tomorrow. They are being asked not to bring farm machinery but I hope they clutter up Whitehall with every tractor and combine harvester they can lay their hands on. Reeves claims 'only' 20% of farms will be affected by her latest smash and grab raid but economists say it is nearer 70%. Has it not figured in her brain that if farmers, who already struggle to make ends meet, chuck in the towel, there will be a serious food shortage?

To address the O/P after all the discussions on here: not, there will not be a serious food shortage as long as farmland is farmed

not bought for purely investment/hobby farming, but the future will mean more larger farms because of the price squeeze except for small farms which successfully diversify and find specialist markets.

So food production will drop if investment buyers don't farm viable farmland, and it will be a positive move to tax them and discourage, as its party those people who have put land prices up.
I'm definitely in favour of reviewing the "cut off points" for IT but tbh I don't see it as changing a long term trend for large units.

A question - do smaller farms not get the benefit of environmental grants - because they should - or is it just large units able to gain from this?

Small farmers who decide to sell of part off their land or the whole property to raise capital or retire would strongly object if they can't get what is currently full marketvalue.
But mostly they want to pass it on lock, stock and barrel to their heirs and not sell anyway.

You raise an interesting point about revaluations to suit ilovecheese. I'm not sure how it works for farms, but I've done it with one of my parents' properties for probate purposes and to avoid IHT.
I had to get what was called a Red Book valuation by I think 2 or 3 qualified sureyors. You can help alter the figures a bit, but you can't decide on and submit the value yourself. It needs to be able to withstand any scrutiny of course.
Probably even more complicated for farms.

Small farmers who decide to sell of part of their land or the whole property to raise capital or retire would strongly object if they cant get what is currently full market value.

'Aye. There's the rub' (W. Shakespeare)

Ilovecheese and Maizie have risen key questions as in the price of land and therefore the viability of small farms, squeezed by the pushes to find food at ever lower prices.

Googled rise in land prices:

Limited supply
The UK has a limited amount of farmland, and it's slowly being developed as urban areas expand.

Strong demand
There's strong demand from a wide variety of buyers, including those looking for natural investment capital or for environmental purposes.

Inflation
Farmland is considered a safe store of real value compared to other investment types during periods of inflation.

Government funding
There's increased government funding for environmental land management programs.

Environmental initiatives
Biodiversity and climate initiatives are upholding investor interest in farmland.

War in Ukraine and supply chain issues
The war in Ukraine and ongoing supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic have caused prices to rise.

You can see that 2 of them definitely relate to "buying land as safer investment" - but not of course necessarily farming it.

Not quite sure what can be done.

Hopefully IT will reduce the appeal "buy to invest/tax avoid" only purchasers but whether a government can decide which land should be protected or re-evaluated for "farmers only" is a moot point, who decides?

Small farmers who decide to sell of part of their land or the whole property to raise capital or retire would strongly object if they cant get what is currently full market value.

vegansrock

Dyson doesn’t “farm” - he owns a huge amount of land which other people farm.

But it appears to be farmed according to his directions.

If we are looking at the future of farming and food security I'm afraid that the Dyson model is probably the one we have to follow. I'm sure it's been happening for quite a long time, small, unprofitable farms being swallowed up by bigger ones. Which isn't preserving the 'way of life' which is being extolled on here...

The only way I can see it changing is if the removal of the tax dodge by way of IHT makes land less attractive as a means of avoiding IHT and brings the absolutely crazy price of farmland down. And farmers start to be paid the better price for the food they produce.

Are supermarkets and big food processors making excessive profits on the back of paying farmers for their produce at prices which barely cover the cost of production is another question that has to be asked.

Could the farmers make a case for the agricultural land to be revalued? Surely if , say, land worth three million pounds can't provide a decent income from farming, then it is not worth three million pounds.
If farmers could demonstrate that they do actually, properly use the land to produce food, but they can't make a decent living from it, is there any way they could ask for a revaluation? Then that would reduce their liability for inheritance tax.

Dyson doesn’t “farm” - he owns a huge amount of land which other people farm.

My apologies for incorrect information regarding Dyson. I still think the majority of farmers won't actually be affected by this because their farms are significantly smaller than the large farms targeted.

grannyGravy. True doctors are not gods and chose their profession, - as do farmers

Grandmabatty

I think the majority of farmers are being hoodwinked by the celebrity 'farmers'. Clarkson quite openly said he was buying land to avoid IHT. He is a hobby farmer at best. Dyson and his ilk don't farm their land, so it is not producing any food. The top ten land owners are dukes, not farmers. I have a great deal of sympathy for farmers who have been dealt badly by big supermarkets and who work very long hours at a hard and isolating job. Clarkson and Farage aren't fit to lick their wellies.

Not all the case, Dyson does farm and farms very profitably, quote from upthread repeated:

but note - the cost of this success has been the loss of goodness how many small farms that used to be there

"Dyson Farming made a pre-tax profit of £5.2m in the year to 31 December 2023, up by £527,000 on the previous year.

Sir James Dyson’s farming business also increased its turnover by 16% to total £40.6m, according to the company’s accounts, with arable farming continuing to be the principal business activity.

It classes itself as the UK’s largest farming business, covering 14,600ha of farmland across Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire

The enterprise typically produces 40,000t of wheat, 9,000t of spring barley, 12,000t of potatoes, 29,000t of sugar beet and 1,250t of strawberries, alongside 2,000 sheep and 800 cattle".

Clarkson's business, yes is a hobby farm with visitors coming for the "Clarkson experience"

The old style furnaces will need to stay for some time in other places - look at this article on Scunthorpe - which includes just how long it could be till the National Grid is connected there, 2032.
www.energylivenews.com/2024/10/07/uk-green-steel-switch-to-electric-furnaces-delayed-until-2032/

The ownership of Steel is a curious one in this country - Sheffield Forgemasters for example is owned by the MOD (bought in 2021) and likely to be protected - Scunthorpe by a Chinese country

"