Farmers who transfer land used for agricultural purposes previously paid no inheritance tax.

But from April 2026, the Chancellor announced in last week’s Budget, anything worth more than £1m will be taxed at an effective rate of 20% (the 40% inheritance tax threshold, but with a 50% tax break.

The National Farmers Union has warned this could force farmers to borrow money or sell plots of land to pay inheritance tax.

To explain why farmers are so angry, we spoke to Pat Thornton, a third generation farmer in north Lincolnshire, for whom the £1 million threshold is not enough.

He told Money the budget announcement was a “very dark day” for the industry.

“Our wealth lies in our land,” he said, explaining that farmers are historically “asset rich and cash poor” – his machinery alone costs more than £1 million.

Pat estimates that the 350-acre farm he runs with his elderly father is valued at between £3 million and £4 million, which could leave him with an inheritance tax bill of £400,000.

But despite this wealth of assets, over the past two years, extreme weather conditions have meant that he has not made any money.

“And on a farm, unfortunately, deaths can happen in pretty tragic circumstances – and out of the blue – so you don’t have a war chest to pay the bills that come with it.”

But selling land to pay those bills could make farms so small they simply wouldn’t be viable, Pat said.

Robert Morse, partner at The private officean independent financial planning firm, told Money: “There is a presumption that because there is an asset value, you can tax the asset.

“But in reality, as a business, it generates very little profit. And most smart farmers reinvest those profits back into the farm – they don’t have that kind of money just sitting in the bank.”

The Government insists the changes will only affect a small number of farms, but the Country Land and Business Association estimates up to 70,000 could be affected. There are around 209,000 farms in the UK, according to official figures.

Three farm workers commit suicide every week

Three people who work in farming and agriculture take their own lives every week, data from the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy showed last year. The suicide rate among male farmworkers is three times the national average.

And Pat fears the situation will only get worse.

“One suicide a week is one suicide too many,” he said. “It’s just another thing on our stress level that we could really do without.”

Speaking from his tractor as he prepared to sow crops he was unable to sow already this year because of weather conditions, he said he wondered if it was worth continuing to cultivate.

“Why do I still do it? It’s getting harder and harder to remember why.

“The support is gone – not just the financial support, but this week it feels like the moral support is gone too.”

With the UK relying on imports for around 40% of its food, Pat said he did not understand why the new government did not want to prioritize agriculture.

What farmers can do to alleviate a hefty tax bill

With farming traditionally being a family business, it’s even more difficult to start a conversation about succession – but doing so as early as possible can avoid additional costs.

Robert told us that farmers “don’t need to pay a big tax bill” and “you can certainly structure it in such a way that there’s no tax to pay.”

Under inheritance tax rules, houses, land and buildings can be donated (for example, a farm can be gifted to an heir) provided they live for another seven years.

“But if you make that donation and don’t survive seven years, that could be a problem,” he said, explaining why it’s important to have these conversations as early as possible.

He cited a quote from former Labor chancellor Roy Jenkins, who described inheritance tax as “a voluntary levy paid by those who distrust their heirs more than they like the Inland Revenue”.

“You need to have a sensible conversation about who’s going to take over,” he said.

Pat said those own conversations with his father were “incredibly difficult”.

“I would start talking and he would walk away. But it was about sticking with it – and over time he could see that we had common goals.”

Robert said the older generation can no longer leave succession plans to chance: “You can either have a say in what happens or you can just leave it to chance.”

A random fate and a heavy tax bill.