Government asked to renew its relationship with farmers ahead of Autumn Budget
13th October 2025
Representatives of the British farming industry have called on the government to use the upcoming Autumn Budget to rebuild its relationship with farmers and growers by introducing measures that will ignite investment and growth across the sector.
The NFU explained that farmers’ confidence has been shaken, particularly following the inheritance tax changes announced at last year’s Budget.
At kitchen tables across the country, farmers and growers have been making choices about where to cut investment on farms to try to save capital to pay for possible tax liabilities that they had been promised this Labour government would not introduce.
From the farmer in Yorkshire who can no longer invest in a new grain store to hold the wheat needed for your weekly loaf of bread to the grower in Lincolnshire who has put off investing in a temperature-controlled storage unit to keep the potatoes for fish and chips fresh, farmers and growers across the country are holding back.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “Farmers and growers either choosing not to or being unable to invest in their businesses should worry us all. These are the businesses that produce the nation’s food, underpin the UK’s largest manufacturing sector – which is worth £153 billion to the economy and supports 4.2 million jobs – and manage and protect our iconic countryside.
“This is the same farmed countryside that the prime minister and his Cabinet stood in front of on stage at the Labour Party conference with the slogan ‘Renew Britain’ emblazoned on top of sunny rural landscapes. The reality is far from sunny in those communities, with confidence levels at an all-time low. This matters because without investment in farming today, we risk food supplies for tomorrow.”
‘Take the handbrake off of Britain’s farmers’
Mr Bradshaw added that during the Labour Party conference, the DEFRA secretary said she wanted to ‘make sure the government renews our relationship with the NFU and the farming community’.
“Even at this late stage, there is still time for the government to do that,” the NFU president responded.
“That’s why ahead of the Budget, I have urged the chancellor again to take the handbrake off of Britain’s farmers, look at the alternatives on offer to the family farm tax and work with us to unlock the investment British food production so desperately needs,” he concluded.
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