Fifth generation farmer says forefathers would be 'utterly devastated by proposed budget changes

A fifth generation farmer facing the prospect of having to sell part of his South Yorkshire family farm to pay tax has said his forefathers would be "utterly devastated" to learn their lives' work could be wrecked by the government.

Mark Downing, who runs farms in Wath-Upon-Dearne and Sprotbrough, issued a rallying cry to battle against Chancellor Rachel Reeves' proposed "ridiculous budget against agriculture". He called for the agricultural community to unite to pile pressure on MPs ahead of him joining scores of farmers from across Yorkshire at Westminster on Wednesday to lobby parliamentarians to overturn tabled changes to agricultural and business property relief. The Met Police has given the green light for splinter protests organised by groups such as The Farming Forum across London while some 1,800 National Farmers' Union members are expected to lobby parliamentarians at Church House Westminster. Organisers are expecting up to 10,000 people to march through the capital in a peaceful rally amid warnings from farmers that tractor go-slows and a strike on spreading sewage sludge on their land are also being considered. The action follows 78-year-old cattle farmer John Charlesworth taking his own life at the Silkstone farm his family have run since 1957 on the day before Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the proposals, having become increasingly concerned about his ability to pass it to the next generation. His son, Jonathan, said: "Farms are asset rich, but there isn't any cash in the system. What little bit we make, we live off." It also follows protests outside the Northern Farming Conference last week, with farmers holding banners saying “No farmers, no food, no future” ahead of environment minister Daniel Zeichner's speech. While Mr Downing's 300-acre farming business has spread risks across cereals crops, hay and haylage, livery stables, sports pitch restoration, arena and paddock construction and event hire of small bales, he said the potential tax bill for the farmland with modern equipment "could stack up to a considerable amount of money". He said: "I'm incredibly proud at being the fifth generation to farm our land and to me the key is to remember that my grandfather and great grandfather walked behind horses up and down the fields that I work while sitting on a comfortable tractor seat with every mod con. "I feel - with all their hard work in the wet, doing everything by hand – they would be utterly devastated to know the government could mean having to sell the family farm to fund the tax. "There's too much work that's gone into what we do by our family before us, for it all just to be swallowed up in taxation. My children could lose 20 per cent of the area we farm in, as selling that amount of land could be the only means for us to fund the tax, so I have great fears about this. "Unity in numbers is clearly what's going to count when reversing this ridiculous budget against agriculture which the Labour Party have put out. We are quite a resilient industry and with so much on the line, people are wanting to put up the biggest fight we possibly can because Labour politicians are just not educated in the rights and wrongs of it all. Wherever they have got their figures from, they are totally incorrect."

Last week, the prime minister said the vast majority of farmers would not be affected by the changes, but Mr Downing said the extra taxation would hit many ordinary farms. Keir Starmer said Labour was "taking the country forward" by investing in farming, while the Tories were “stuck in the past”.

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