Back British Farmers!
Very Upset Farmers
"UK farmers I would say have been quite benign compared to farmers in France and Europe but last week I have noticed a notch-up in the emotions of many family farmers. It’s all about how farms are passed onto the next generation, and the new 20% tax.
Up until last week, successive UK governments have allowed the passing of a farm to the next generation tax-free, the only requirement being the next generation continue to farm the land. That is a fair trade-off and a win for sustainability as it takes many years to understand how to farm.
There are many examples in recent years of the next generation not wanting to continue farming and hence these farms get sold off. A recent case was a wonderful fruit farm in Cheshire where the orchards were burnt down in order to sell the land. Very sad really when you consider it takes 7 years to establish an orchard into fruit production. But you can’t force someone to farm.
It now all seems even more confusing and there are plenty of farmers’ emotions running at a high boil over this, with extreme talk by farming social media influencers of blocking the sale of food until the government change their mind.
However, there are certain farms, with particular note in Cheshire being the Grosvenor Estate; the largest land owner in the county receives the most farming subsidy in the county. Should they pay more? Perhaps when you consider how they rose to wealth by ripping off Welsh mines 200 years ago…
My personal view on this is that there should be more communication between governments and all parts of society. Surely there are marketing firms that could produce a brilliant survey to really get a view on what we should do?
As for Groobarbs, well we have created the most fair system we can think of and the relationship is between you and the farm. So you can count on us to always deliver your fruit & veg as you have supported us through thick and thin, no matter what anyone else says. Even if fuel runs out we are local enough to deliver by horse and cart!"
By David Fryer - Your Veg Box Farmer
