The farm profitability report by former National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Baroness Minette Batters has called for a “new deal" from the government that recognises the true cost of producing food and delivering for the environment.

The terms of the review did not include the government's controversial planned changes to inheritance tax, which are set to apply to farm businesses worth more than £1m.

But Baroness Batters said it was raised as the single biggest issue regarding farm viability by almost all respondents to her review.

She said the sector had faced a sharp rise in costs and increasingly extreme weather, with severe drought this year.

Uncertainty surrounding the closure of applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme – part of the post-Brexit payments system after the withdrawal of EU subsidies – and proposed cuts to farm inheritance tax relief had created “significant” ongoing concern, with some farmers........

© Eastern Daily Press