LANDOWNERS and farmers have written to their local MP in their hundreds to express their anger at anti-farming measures announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget.

Letters have been sent to MPs across Devon condemning the announcement that the farming budget was to be frozen – a cut in real terms – and the introduction of a cap on agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR).

The letter calls on MPs to put pressure on the Chancellor to change course and build a rural economy that can feed the nation, improve the environment, create jobs and generate economic growth.

From April 2026, Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) will be capped at £1m in total per owner.

Qualifying assets beyond this level will receive 50 per cent relief from inheritance tax, resulting in an effective tax rate of 20 per cent, after using the nil rate band of £325,000 and residence nil rate band of £175,000.

Despite government assurances that “small farms” won’t be affected, analysis carried out by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents farmers, landowners and rural businesses and is campaigning for the government to maintain APR and BPR, shows tax changes could prove a death sentence for many small and medium-sized farms.

For example, a typical 200-acre farm owned by an individual with an expected annual profit of £27,300 would face an IHT liability of £435,000.

If spread over a period of 10 years, this would require the farm to allocate 159 per cent of its profit each year to cover the tax bill.

To meet this bill, successors could be compelled to sell 20 per cent of their land.

Similarly, a 250-acre arable farm owned between a couple in the way the Chancellor expects to be possible with an expected annual profit of £34,130 would face an IHT liability of £267,000, amounting to 78 per cent of its profit each year over a decade.

A combine harvester and tractor during harvesting in a field near Crediton. AQ 3864
A combine harvester and tractor during harvesting in a field near Crediton. AQ 3864 (Alan Quick, Crediton Courier)

Ann Maidment, South West Regional Director for the Country Land and Business Association, commented: "The Chancellor’s announcement will have consequences for hard-pressed farmers, consumers and the environment.

“Labour promised to be the party for the countryside, for growth, and vowed not to cut inheritance tax reliefs. Now they have broken these promises.

“How can rural Britain trust them again?

“The government appears to think inheritance tax reliefs for farmers are ‘loopholes’.

“In reality, they are targeted reliefs designed to protect Britain’s rural economy, jobs and food security. And this isn’t the only challenge that the farming community will be facing.

The real term cut to the agriculture budget in England will mean that the Government's own ambitions and targets for nature will be impossible to deliver. 

“The fear and anger felt by farmers and rural businesses cannot be overstated. There is enormous growth potential in the countryside, but we need the government to be working with us, not against us.”