The changes to inheritance tax will be the final straw for many farming families so we must keep the public on side - Sarah Todd

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is organising a rally in London on November 19. Momentum is growing and there is no doubt it is going to be a huge and historic event, with a convoy of coaches being coordinated from all corners of the country.

Credit where it’s due. This is a fantastic effort by the NFU but such a shame it’s still such a long way off. Hindsight is a marvellous thing, but should there not have been plans already in place that would have seen a mass convoy of tractors and placard-wavers out on the streets this weekend just gone? Or actually - thinking aloud - BB (Before Budget). To show our new leadership that farmers were not going to be robbed of their land, through inheritance tax payments, right from the off.

The kick in the teeth given by Sir Keir Starmer’s new government to rural communities as we know them was hardly unexpected. British people are just so polite and, of course, that’s something to be proud of.

Farmers are always busy working and animals need looking after; getting away from a farm for the day does take some organising. Maybe finally farmers are going to take a leaf out of their French counterparts’ book and stand up more for their way of life. Not their extremes, but all their passion is just what’s needed.

Watching the BBC coverage of the Budget, it was immediately noted that several presenters were wearing red. Hopefully it was just a coincidence rather than a sign of any political preference.

The ‘farmer’ pulled out for an interview on the nighttime news was very well spoken and referred to the future of estates rather than family farms.

Where was the everyday clarity wellied farmer with his family slogging away for nothing in the background in the now misguided belief that ‘one day this will all be yours’?

Any hint of bias in coverage from our national broadcaster needs calling out.

Like it or not, public relations have a vital role to play these days. Labour will have chucked millions at it and our rural leaders need to wise up.

The people the agricultural industry put forward for interviews need to be representative of small to medium sized traditional family farms and agricultural workers. Not big wigs. Unless, of course, it’s farming’s new hero Jeremy Clarkson who has been brilliant.

However flat out with work they are, now is the time for young farm lads (and lasses) to make sure they always pull their tractors into laybys to let any queues of drivers behind get past. Never mind the agricultural slogans about thanking a farmer, it’s so important for farmers to thank the public for supporting them in their hour of need.

The industry needs to raise its flat caps to those that have taken the time to read some of the excellent headlines (The Sun’s being a standout one).

That doesn’t mean turning a blind eye on anyone wandering through livestock with dogs off leads or stopping keeping pigs or not driving that noisy old tractor on a Sunday. Don’t change ways of life for anyone, but it’s a wise industry that knows when a nod of acknowledgement is due. In London, at the rally, behaviour must be spot on. Otherwise certain sectors of the media will have a field day.

Heart-warmingly, lots of families (many of whom have also been hit in the pocket by the Budget) feel for the farming communities and the threat to their traditional way of life.

People understand that if family farms are sold off for inheritance tax England’s green and pleasant land will be irreversibly changed. Food security will be dented and prices will rise, resulting in more reliance on imports. Such supporters need nurturing as tenderly as a newly born lamb or freshly sown field of wheat.

Just look at Spain, where thousands of acres of crops were last week wiped out by the years’ worth of rain that fell in just eight hours.

How would Britain feed us if such a disaster struck and our family farms had been sacrificed on an altar created by political point scoring? Soil smothered with solar panels or new-build houses wouldn’t be much use…