Adam Henson urges farmers to join Big Farmland Bird Count
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Countryfile star Adam Henson has warned Rachel Reeves her inheritance tax raid “hurts” British farming. The BBC presenter, 59, urged the Chancellor to “soften the blow” of her Budget by considering other “simple” alternatives. Adam, a second generation tenant farmer, said he was “worried” about how policies announced at Ms Reeves’ first budget have been implemented.
He explained how the Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) changes “hurt” British farming. Farmers across the country will descend on London on Monday to protest the Budget announcements, which threaten the sector's future. Adam said National Insurance hikes will also make the coming year difficult for businesses.
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When asked whether it was an “attack” on the countryside, the farmer said: “I’m not sure it’s an attack [on British farming] but it hurts. We’re tenant farmers on a 1,600 acre property and thank goodness we’ve already diversified. That’s thanks to my father who opened the Cotswolds Farm Park in 1971, because we have another form of income and I work in the media. But we are not going to make money in 2025 out of agriculture. I will be able to pay my rent but that’s it.
Adam Henson on his Cotswold Farm Park (Image: Rowan Griffiths/Daily Express)
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“We will be looking continually at efficiencies. We’ll be looking to try and increase revenue streams and cut costs. Our whole team understands that and we’re going to have to work really, really hard to stand still. That affects business owners but also affects team members.
“We employ 130 people here and we want to continue doing so but there’s lots of business owners I talk to in various industries who are stripping staff.
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"They’re taking people out of their business because they can’t afford them. We’re not in that situation ourselves yet but that's the worry. We were hoping for growth and actually what we might have is an increased number of unemployed.
“My comments are apolitical. The Labour Government inherited a mess and they’re trying to sort that mess out the best they can.”
The Chancellor in October announced that from April 2026, combined agricultural and business property assets up to ￡1 million will still receive 100% relief but anything above that will be taxed at an effective rate of 20%.
The Daily Express’s Save Britain’s Family Farms crusade has demanded a U-turn.
Adam said: “I am worried about the way it was implemented. I think there should have been more consultation. There could have been some positive, clear advice. It’s been talked about for years - whether it might change - and the government said ‘no we’re not going to’ and then they did.
"I think that’s why many people are angry and upset that they weren’t consulted. I think it could have been delivered in a better way.”
When asked if he would back Ms Reeves pausing her Budget changes, Adam said: “I suspect, and we’ve been told, they’re not going to do a U-turn but I think they need to listen to the professionals and look at the alternatives that there are to soften it. There are lots of other quite simple ways of softening the blow.”
He suggested raising the threshold of paying inheritance tax or ensuring that land passed down to family members only gets heaped with the levy if relatives sell it afterwards.
Adam lives on the 1,600 acre property with his wife Charlie while their daughter Ella, 26, lives in Australia and son Alfie, 21, does finance in Leeds.
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Countryfile’s Adam Henson hosts the launch of the Big Farmland Bird Count at his Cotswold Farm Park (Image: Rowan Griffiths/Daily Express)
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The TV presenter, who launched the Big Farmland Bird Count on his Cotswold Farm Park on Friday, said: “The results from [the APR and BPR changes] mean that, particularly generational medium-sized farms that are asset rich in the value of their land but their cash flow is a struggle.
“They’ll be farming on an overdraft. When it gets handed to the next generation after the senior member of the family is deceased, then that will mean often land will have to be sold to pay the bill.
“Therein lies a huge amount of difficulty. There are people who will be able to talk to their accounts, solicitors and land agents to get advice on how to work their way around it. There are massive estates and landowners who will be able to pay the bill. Because agriculture is so far reaching from people who grow cherries in Kent to Scottish blackface sheep up in the mountains and everything in between.
“It’ll affect everybody very, very differently.”
From next year, there will be a big cut to the Basic Payments Scheme - the government support for production on many farms.
The payments are being phased out, with the previous Conservative government announcing they would be abolished altogether by 2027.
But Ms Reeves has accelerated that process. Any farmer paid up to ￡30,000 will lose 76% of that in 2025, and any money paid beyond that first ￡30,000 will be cut altogether.
Adam said: “I was taught at agricultural college to budget for five years ahead. If you were budgeting and investing in your property, burying machine, employing good quality staff and then suddenly you’ve lost a significant amount of money from your income but you thought you’d budgeted to have because that’s what the government had told us prior to the budget, I think that’s as shocking if not more shocking than the inheritance tax.”
Adam also raised concerns about risks to the nation’s food security, adding that imports do not always meet the health and welfare standards for the UK.
Countryfile’s Adam Henson is encouraging Britons to spot birds this months (Image: Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)
The UK produces around 60% of its food but many farmers fear Ms Reeves’ inheritance tax raid means traditional farms will have to be sold and replaced by things like renewables.
Adam said: “When you think what happened post-WWII, and let’s dread the thought of anything like that ever happening again, but food security was on the tip of our tongues. We were a starving nation. We were growing food on every acre of land to feed ourselves. I think we need to be really careful about our own security but also our food quality, food safety and standards.”
“Our farmers are on the backfoot. We’re penalised. We can’t compete. But also, particularly I’d say, for our health and wellbeing. How on Earth can we possibly be importing food that doesn’t match our own food standards? It’s a serious issue.”
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A Government spokeswoman said: “Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast.
“This Government will invest ￡5 billion into farming over the next two years, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history. We are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production.
“Our reform to Agricultural and Business Property Reliefs will mean farmers will pay a reduced inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% for other businesses, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free. This is a fair and balanced approach, which fixes the public services we all rely on, affecting around 500 estates a year."