As the dust settles after yesterday's reforming #budget2024, it's time to look at what the reforms to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) from Inheritance Tax (IHT) actually mean, instead of the toys out of the pram reaction from a section of the farming community. A short 🧵 1/7 Up until yesterday farmland (and buildings) of any size, could be passed on to descendants entirely free of any IHT liability. Considering land is an asset whose value generally goes up, this increase in value is not taxed, unlike other assets where Capital Gains Tax applies 2/7

With the formal launch of #BiodiversityNetGain yesterday, it's worth pointing out a massive inconsistency in the Government's approach to nature, between how some of our most precious places for wildlife & history are treated, in the planning system and for farm support. 🧵 1/13 Yes, some of you will have already guessed that I'm talking about wildlife-rich grasslands: downlands, hay meadows, rushy pastures, heathy wastes, water meadows, flood meadows, glades, lawns, greens, dunes, marsh, parks, barrows, hill forts, henges, stone circles & lynchets. 2/13

While lots of organisations have criticised Therese Coffey's comment that beaver introductions aren't a priority of the Govt, there's a far more insidious message contained within her 17th October letter to EFRA cttee. She doesn't mention conservation as a priority, once. 🧵 1/8 The Govt overall priority is "increasing biodiversity". This means "Our priority in achieving our ambitious targets on biodiversity is our focus on habitat restoration and creation, and improved connectivity of biodiversity corridors to tackle pressures on species..." 2/8

After the reverse ferret by the RSPB over their response to the Government's slashing of the #nutrientneutrality rules, there's a view that it's unacceptable to accuse individual ministers of lying, presumably because these decisions are collegiate. What's been going on? 1/8 This isn't a one-off attack on charities for speaking out. The 2010 Tory Govt came in with plans to curtail criticism of the Govt by its own independent advisers. Practically the 1st thing the Farming Minister did on arrival at Defra that year was to muzzle Natural England. 2/8

A short thread about Dartmoor and Natural England. NE is responsible for sites protected by law both at the national and international level. Not only does this mean stopping them from being damaged, but also ensuring that they are managed in such a way 1/14 that the species & habitats for which they are protected, survive and ideally thrive. Large parts of Dartmoor are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) under the EU Habitats Directive. We may no longer be in the EU but 2/14

A short thread about just one of the impacts of intensive Dairy Farming - yes it's Slurry Monday! With the ground frozen for over a week, all that Slurry is building up, because it can't be spread on fields. But with the thaw & rain, it's Slurry Spreading Time. 1/5 The smell - a pungent/nauseating mix of cow faeces and disinfectant, hangs in the air everywhere. Roads and fields are covered in sh*t, but with the ground still frozen in many places, it sloshes straight off fields, into ditches, streams and rivers 2/5

So Starmer wants low wage (though skilled) jobs eg in the food sector (usually done by migrants) to be done by UK nationals. 2 things follow. 1stly wages would have to increase dramatically to entice Brits. 2ndly, we're all going to be paying a lot more for our food. thread 1/12 I'm sympathetic to the idea that everyone pays for the real cost of food production, including better pay & paying for food to be produced sustainably. It costs more to produce food with lower environmental footprints, or rather, intensively produced food hides it true costs 2/12

Who'd have thought radically altering the way that farmers are supported by the taxpayer to produce food, & at least in theory all the other "goods" that land provides society, would take more than a few tweaks and a couple of years. Farmers are not happy with ELMS... thread 1/15 And neither is the nature sector. This is partly because it's only addressing part of the problem. Paying farmers a per ha payment is relatively simple. It's also deeply inequitous, because most of the £ goes to the biggest landowners. But it meant that farmers could get by. 2/15

Government poised to scrap ELMS theguardian.com/environment/20… There's much more to this story. Mark Spencer, who was Johnson's chief whip, but supported Sunak in the leadership contest, was demoted to the post of Farming Minister at Defra on the 8th September. Shortish thread 1/12 Spencer is a farmer and also chaired the national federation of Young Farmers Clubs. It's the equivalent of being President of the Young Conservatives. It's a key role for anyone ambitious about becoming a key farming industry person. We know he's close to the NFU. 2/12

Yesterday's budget was written by the IEA, The Tax Payers Alliance, The Adam Smith Institute & all the other Tufton Street libertarian dark-funded "think tanks". In case anyone isn't familiar with the Tufton Street world view, this is what they believe in. Short Thread 1/6 A Small State. "get Government out of people's lives" is the familiar refrain. They attack social policies as the "nanny state". The Sugar Tax is a good example of something they attacked. Are they funded by the processed food industry? The Welfare State is anathema to them. 2/6

Between 200 and 500 million people across the world practise pastoralism, including nomadic communities, transhumant herders, and agropastoralists. These ancient cultures are threatened by all manner of things, not least climate change and theft of traditional grazing lands. 1/12 transhumance cultures, with seasonal use of different grazing lands - such as Summer mountain pastures, occurred throughout the world, even in Britain until quite recently. Pastoralists don't exploit their grazing lands to the point of destruction, what would be the point? 2/12