Farmers passing through land used for agricultural purposes were not previously subject to any inheritance tax.

However, the chancellor announced in the budget last week that from April 2026 any value over £1 million will be taxed at an effective rate of 20% (40% inheritance tax threshold, but 50% tax relief).

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

To help explain why farmers are so angry, we spoke to Pat Thornton, a third-generation farmer in North Lincolnshire for whom the £1m threshold wasn’t enough.

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

“Our wealth is in our land,” he said, explaining that farmers have historically been “asset rich and cash poor”, with their machinery alone costing more than £1 million.

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

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

“And unfortunately on a farm, deaths can happen suddenly and in quite tragic circumstances, so you don’t have a war chest of money to pay the bills that come in.”

But selling land to pay those bills can make farms so small they become unsustainable, Pat said.

Robert Morse, partner Private OfficeHe told Money, an independent financial planning company: “There is an assumption that you can tax the asset because it has value.

“But it actually makes very little profit as a business. And most smart farmers reinvest those profits back into the farm; they don’t have that much money just sitting in the bank.”

While the government insists the changes will only affect a small number of farms, Country Lands and Business Association believes up to 70,000 farms could be affected. There are around 209,000 farms in the UK, according to official figures.

Three agricultural workers die by suicide every week

Data from the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy last year showed that three people working in farming and agriculture take their own lives every week. The suicide rate for male agricultural workers is three times the national average.

And Pat fears this situation will get worse.

“One suicide a week is too many,” he said. “This is another thing we could really do without with our stress levels.”

As he was talking from the tractor as he prepared to plant crops that he had not already been able to plant this year due to the weather, he said it made him question whether it was worth continuing to farm.

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

“The support is gone; not only the financial support, but also the moral support this week.”

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

What can farmers do to ease their heavy tax bill?

Since farming has traditionally been a family business, talking about succession is even more difficult; however, doing this as soon as possible can avoid extra costs.

Robert told us that farmers “don’t need to pay a huge tax bill” and that “you can structure it so there’s absolutely no tax.”

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

“But if you give that gift and you don’t survive seven years, that could be a problem,” he said, explaining why it’s important to have these conversations sooner rather than later.

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

“You have to have a rational conversation about who takes over,” he said.

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

“I would start talking and he would drift away. But it was a matter of dropping the subject, and over time he could see that we had common goals.”

Robert said the older generation could no longer leave their succession plans to chance: “You can either have knowledge of what’s going to happen, or you can leave it to random fate.”

Random fate and a hefty tax bill.