Huge amount of public support for Sussex and Surrey farmers on NFU Farming Day of Unity
Farmers from Sussex and Surrey were buoyed by a huge amount of public support during the NFU Farming Day of Unity.
Farmers gathered in towns and cities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Saturday to thank the public for their support and discuss the NFU’s Stop the Family Farm Tax campaign.
Farmers and growers from across East Sussex, West Sussex and Surrey joined forces to organise events in West Sussex.
They engaged with the public at Worthing Pier, Horsham town centre, Tesco car park in Pulborough, Acorn Retail Park in Crawley and Tesco car park in Chichester.
NFU Deputy President David Exwood, who farms in West Sussex, attended several events.
He said: “What a fantastic day. We started on the south coast in Worthing in the morning and finished on a farm in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
“We met with so many farmers, MPs, councillors, vets, tractor dealers – everybody was coming out and supporting farming and standing up to be counted.
“There was huge support from the public, people clapping and cheering. I’ve never been so proud of the industry.”
There are widespread concerns that the government’s planned changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) will force many small and medium-sized family farms out of business.
The NFU says the government is working off the wrong figures, with the Treasury claiming 27% of family farms in England will be affected, while Defra’s own figures show this figure to be 66%.
Further analysis shows 75% of commercial family farms will be impacted.
All the UK’s major supermarkets publicly have stated their concerns over the impact the changes will have on national food security. There are also concerns about the impact on the entire rural economy and the environment.
West Sussex Council Leader Paul Marshall attended the event at Worthing Pier.
Mr Marshall has written to Defra Secretary Steve Reed calling on the planned changes to inheritance tax to be reconsidered.
On Saturday, he received heartfelt letters from children in local farming families urging the government to not take away their futures.
NFU West Sussex Council Representative Caroline Harriott said: “We had an amazing response from the public. Many people said they would sign our petition and were asking what else they could do to help.
“The day was a huge success and I want to thank everyone for the huge amount of effort that went into this.”
Food donations were collected on the day for Worthing Soup Kitchen.
NFU Surrey Vice-Chair Paula Matthews said there was an excellent turnout in Crawley.
She said: “We had really good public engagement, with many people signing the stop the family farm tax petition. It was a good day and it was great to see so many NFU members joining us.”
You can sign the petition to Stop the Family Farm Tax by going to www.nfuonline.com