rA "I await further clarification from GP who has twin levels of expertise but also, perhaps, bias."

Moi? As if. To reassure you I no longer have skin in the game as our family farm was disposed of as my brothers children did not wish to carry on the business which was capital intensive and the returns weren't good. As a largely tenanted farm there weren't land value related IHT problems anyway and if fell under business disposal relief as well as IHT on residual asset values.

So, as intimated earlier, the bigger problems arise where there is succession in the business by the next generation - as there isn't a disposal to generate cash to meet any tax liability. This scenario is made worse by the high land values which are probably out of step with the economic worth of the land.

So it's not an issue that will impact all farmers by any stretch of the imagination. If anything it's more the big landowners problems who let out the land to tenant farmers.

But farming is probably more dynastic than other businesses - generations being born into the business and the lifestyle, houses being "tied to the job" etc There have been concessions always given to farmers in recognition of the role in food security and environmental protection - the latter being more central to thinking nowadays.

So the changes will only impact some farmers, predominantly those land owning businesses and only where succession is involved. More and more the current generation are opting out of farming as it's 24/7 especially with livestock and low returns on capital. Farm units thus are getting bigger and more economic than the small holdings of earlier generations. Consolidation is perhaps a good thing but it depersonalizes the industry which at the same time is trying to show itself as "small and caring".

So are the tax changes unfair - well you can argue that anything that increases your liability is so, but this is more a matter of reducing concessions (which admittedly feels the same). Time will tell what the long-term implications are for agriculture but my gut feel is that it's a retrograde move as it will force industry consolidation and reduce the numbers of generational farmers who understand their land.