This Week in Farming: IHT, abattoir closure and calving tips

Welcome back to This Week in Farming, your one-stop shop for the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days.

Before we get started, here’s your first proper set of market prices (opens as PDF) after the festive break. Take a look at that remarkable lamb figure to start the year.

Now, on with the show.

Inheritance tax: 2025 edition

Any hopes harboured by the government that the new year would banish farming’s anger over its inheritance tax (IHT) reforms will have been dashed by the noisy reception for Defra secretary Steve Reed at this week’s Oxford Farming Conference.

Tractors honked their way through the second half of his time on the stage, and his car had to be escorted by police when he left the venue afterwards.

He came with a three-point plan to improve farming profitability, but in my snap editorial comment following the speech, I opined that it failed to match the moment.

Elsewhere, the Central Association for Agricultural Valuers revised its estimates upwards for how many farming businesses will have assets significant enough to be in scope for paying IHT after the changes are implemented.

There was also a fresh wave of tractor protests launched by Famers To Action, a new grass-roots campaign group, that has co-ordinated events at a number of locations across England, Wales and Scotland.

Fresh blow to small abattoir network

Another hot topic this week has been the closure of Newman’s Abattoir, an independent, family-run business based in Farnborough which was the only facility serving farmers across a swathe of southern England.

The news comes amid some broader cheer for the beef sector as finished prices continue to rise.

Some larger producers are rumoured to be close to deadweight prices of 580p/kg, and prospects for attaining £6/kg by spring are increasingly likely, according to industry sources.

Arable’s difficult decisions

Repairing damage arising from a tough cropping year in 2024 is the task of many arable farmers now also contemplating how to manage tight cashflow in the year ahead.

In the first of a three-part series tackling these issues head-on, we visited Essex farmer Tom Streeter, who is thinking about downsizing the business he runs with his brother to improve resilience.

Arable farmer focus writer Annabel Hamilton is also making changes – both to cropping and to her lifestyle – with the imminent arrival of a baby.

Calving season

Spring calving season is fast approaching, and may even already be here for some readers.

The livestock team have picked out two pieces of timely advice to contemplate on this topic – firstly, a look at the benefits of a post-calving vet check, particularly to help tackle endometritis.

 Secondly, a reminder of the benefits of the not-so-humble calf cart.

Who’s up and who’s down?

On the up this week is Diana Overton, who was revealed this week as Frontier Agriculture’s new managing director – one of the biggest jobs in agriculture.

Feeling down are drinkers of plant-based milk alternatives. Research published this week revealed that individuals were 14% more likely to report depression than consumers of semi-skimmed cows’ milk.

Listen to the podcast

Don’t forget to also tune into the second FW podcast of the year, with Johann Tasker and Louise Impey, who are joined by former co-host Hugh Broom.

You’ll find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or free to listen to on our website.