NFU have warned that the autumn budget could lead to a spike in food prices.
Additional production costs brought about by the changes to taxation will trickle down from the farmers, given their current financial plight, and land on the shoulders of either the supply chain or the consumer.
This latest budget is rumoured to have many at the ground level of agriculture questioning their futures in the sector, given the decade of suffering previously experienced. Growing overheads, tightened margins, cost inflation and severe weather all snowballing towards a budget that ignored the industries pleas.
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Changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR), despite previous ministerial assurances, threaten the futures of many family farms.
Farmers are further impacted by the accelerated phasing out of old support schemes, leading to significant income cuts while replacement schemes fail to support numerous farm businesses.
Paired with the increase in wage and employer national insurance contributions, profit margins may begin to look slimmer and slimmer for farm businesses.
Together with wage rises and added costs to businesses that apply across the economy, these policies raise serious questions about the future of British food security and the impact on food supply and prices.
In response to the budget, NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “This Budget not only threatens family farms but will also make producing food more expensive.
“This means more cost for farmers who simply cannot absorb it, and it will have to be borne by someone. Farmers are down to the bone and gristle, who is going to carry these costs?
“It’s been a bad Budget for farm confidence, which is already at an all-time low. Farmers, including tenants, have more uncertainty and more worry, not less.”
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