‘Squeezed from both ends’ – NI farmers face £250,000 tax fears as families question future of farms
Friday 16 October 2026
The future of family farming in Northern Ireland is under growing pressure, with almost nine in ten farmers reporting increased stress over inheritance tax changes and more than four in ten already cutting back on investment, according to a major new survey.
The findings, published by the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), reveal deep concerns about whether farms built up over generations can survive being passed from parents to children, with some families anticipating inheritance tax bills running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The union is calling on the Chancellor to reverse the changes in the forthcoming Autumn Budget, warning that the consequences are already being felt in farm businesses and rural communities across Northern Ireland.
Families facing uncertain futures
The UFU surveyed its members between 29 September and 12 October 2026, examining inheritance tax, financial confidence, investment decisions and the future of family farm succession.
Among those who responded, 88.6% reported increased family stress or worry because of the changes, including 60.3% who described the increase as significant.
The findings also show that 71.4% have lost confidence in their ability to pass on their farm as a financially viable business.
The survey revealed:
• 58.5% expect the inheritance tax changes to create or increase a tax liability.
• 37.2% anticipate an inheritance tax bill of at least £100,000.
• 23.4% expect a potential bill of £250,000 or more.
• 49.2% say their intended successor has become less willing, less financially able, or both, to take over the family farm.
• 42.2% have already reduced, postponed or cancelled farm investment, or are in the process of doing so.
• 83.7% identified reversing the inheritance tax changes as a priority for the Chancellor’s Budget.
The percentages reflect the views and expectations of farmers who participated in the UFU membership survey, rather than independently assessed tax liabilities across Northern Ireland's entire farming sector. The union has not provided the number of respondents in the material released.
‘These findings are nothing short of devastating’
UFU president John McLenaghan said the results confirmed warnings the organisation had repeatedly raised about the consequences for family farms.
“These findings are nothing short of devastating. We have warned repeatedly about the consequences of these inheritance tax changes, but we now have clear evidence from farming families themselves of the damage being done.
“Almost nine in ten reporting increased stress or worry should stop the Government in its tracks. These are not wealthy individuals sitting on disposable fortunes. These are hardworking farming families whose ‘wealth’ is tied up in the land, buildings and machinery they need to produce food. Families who have spent generations building their businesses are now facing the prospect of enormous tax liabilities, with many questioning whether their farms can survive the transition to the next generation.
“The Government talks about protecting UK food security while pursuing a policy that is undermining the very family businesses responsible for producing our food. That contradiction cannot be ignored, and there exists a renewed opportunity at the Autumn Budget to change course and restore their relationship with agriculture.”
Investment decisions already changing
Although inheritance tax is generally associated with the transfer of assets following a death, the UFU argues that the proposed financial burden is already influencing how farmers run their businesses.
More than two in five respondents reported cutting back, delaying or cancelling investment, or taking steps towards doing so, directly because of the changes.
That raises concerns about spending on farm buildings, equipment, environmental improvements and measures intended to make farms more efficient and productive.
Mr McLenaghan said:
“This is not a problem waiting to happen when a farmer dies. The damage is happening right now. Money that should be going into farm buildings, environmental improvements, increasing efficiency, and the future of food production is instead being held back as families try to prepare for potential tax liabilities.
“Every investment that does not happen has consequences, not only for the farm but for the wider rural economy.
“Perhaps most worrying of all is what this means for the next generation. Almost half of respondents are telling us that their intended successor is now less willing or less financially able to take over the farm. We cannot afford to lose the next generation of food producers because of a tax policy that fails to recognise the realities of farming.”
Farmers ‘squeezed from both ends’
The findings have prompted a strong response from Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader and Agriculture Spokesperson Diana Armstrong MLA, who has backed the UFU's call for the inheritance tax changes to be reversed.
Ms Armstrong said the figures reflected conversations taking place around kitchen tables in farming households, where families are questioning whether the land worked by previous generations can remain in their hands.
“Nearly nine in ten report increased stress or worry. Seven in ten have lost confidence that the farm can be handed on as a going concern. Almost a quarter are looking at a potential bill of £250,000 or more. Those are not statistics to the people who filled that survey in. That is a conversation at a kitchen table about land their grandfather worked, and whether any of it survives them.”
She highlighted the impact on investment as particularly troubling, arguing that farmers were being asked to modernise their businesses while facing financial pressures from both Westminster and Stormont.
“The figure that stopped me was this one. More than four in ten have already cut back, put off or cancelled investment in the farm. Not at some point down the line when a bill arrives. Now.”
Stormont funding comes under criticism
Ms Armstrong also criticised the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture's approach to capital investment, claiming farmers had received no farm capital investment support during 2025 despite being expected to improve environmental performance and modernise their operations.
She argued that subsequent support had arrived too late and remained inadequate for larger projects such as slurry storage and agricultural buildings.
“Support has come at the eleventh hour, after a year in which farmers were asked to transform their businesses with nothing to transform them with, and it still does nothing for the bigger investments like slurry storage and buildings. So there is precious little coming from Stormont to invest with, and a tax change at Westminster is pushing people to stop investing anyway. Squeezed from both ends.”
Her comments raise a wider question about how farmers can meet demands for environmental improvements and modernisation when, according to the survey, uncertainty over future tax liabilities is already discouraging investment.
The claims concerning departmental capital funding represent Ms Armstrong's political assessment and are separate from the UFU's survey findings.
The next generation and rural communities
Beyond the financial figures, the survey highlights uncertainty about who will continue running family farms in the years ahead.
Nearly half of respondents reported that their intended successor had become less willing or financially able to take over, raising concerns about the long-term continuity of family farming businesses.
For rural communities throughout Mid and East Antrim and across Northern Ireland, the implications could extend beyond agricultural production to local employment, suppliers, schools and other businesses that depend on farming households.
Ms Armstrong said:
“This is also bigger than farming. The family farm is what a rural community is built on. It is the children filling the school bus, the team on a Saturday, the trade going through the local shop, the neighbour who turns up at silage or when somebody takes ill. Lose those farms and you do not just lose food production. You lose the place.”
She confirmed that her Ulster Unionist colleague Robin Swann MP would continue raising the issue at Westminster, having already pressed the Government over the changes.
Pressure builds ahead of Autumn Budget
The dispute centres on changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, which affect the inheritance tax treatment of qualifying agricultural land, buildings and business assets.
These reliefs have historically played an important role in allowing farming businesses to pass between generations without the full value of qualifying assets being subject to inheritance tax.
The changes were originally announced by the current Labour Government in its October 2024 Budget, rather than by the previous UK Government as suggested in the political statements accompanying the survey.
The UFU is now preparing to present its report to parliamentarians in the coming days, seeking further engagement with MPs before the Autumn Budget.
Mr McLenaghan said:
“The Chancellor now has an opportunity to listen to the evidence and address the damage highlighted in this report. This is about far more than inheritance tax. It is about whether the next generation can afford to farm, whether family businesses can continue investing and whether the UK is serious about protecting domestic food security.
“We hope this Government will recognise the strength of this evidence and use the Budget as an opportunity to provide the certainty and confidence farming families desperately need. We want to work constructively with Ministers to secure a future where family farms can thrive, invest and pass viable businesses to the next generation.”
He concluded:
“Our message is simple: protect family farms, protect the next generation and protect the future of UK food production.”
Confidential support for farming families
Farmers and farming families experiencing stress, anxiety or financial difficulties can access free, confidential practical and emotional assistance through the Northern Ireland charity Rural Support.
• Telephone: 0800 138 1678
• Website: www.ruralsupport.org.uk
With the Autumn Budget approaching, the UFU's findings place renewed pressure on the Chancellor to address concerns over farm succession and investment. For the families represented in the survey, the immediate question is not simply how much inheritance tax might eventually be owed, but whether they can continue investing in their farms and pass on viable businesses to the next generation.
