Farmers in South Yorkshire 'grappling with uncertainty' ahead of the budget
Agriculture workers are expected to protest in London this week ahead of the Chancellor's Autumn Budget
Farmers in South Yorkshire & North Derbyshire tell us they're 'grappling with uncertainty' in the sector - ahead of the Chancellor's Budget this week.
A new report has found up to 50% of those in agriculture are looking at walking away from the industry for good.
It's following changes announced to inheritance tax on agricultural properties last year - which is set to come into force next April.
Eddie Andrew is a dairy farmer in Sheffield:
"There's been at least two tractor dealerships around where we are that have gone bankrupt because farmers aren't buying any new equipment after what got announced in the autumn budget last year.
"So if we wanted to buy a new tractor in the future, we can't do it on our doorstep anymore, so the impact of the changes in last year's autumn budget have been permanent already.
"At the time when the government announced these changes last year, we'd just got a big loan out and we were in the middle of building a big shed - and it's this kind of uncertainty that has been felt all over the country.
"If we lose 50% of the people that feed us, then that's a concern - otherwise we're completely reliant on bringing food in from other countries.
"If other countries then have a bad harvest, or they need the food more than we do, then we aren't going to get the food - it's that simple.
"British farmers have been brilliant at keeping the cost of food production down over the years - but if half of them decide it's too tough to carry on in the industry, it'll have a huge effect."
You can read more on the government's plans to change agricultural tax relief below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief