Swindon farmer highlights importance of locally produced pancake ingredients
The NFU is organising a march through London today
The founder of Save British Farming is stressing the importance of farming and locally produced food this pancake day.
Today, NFU farmers from all across the country are gathering in Whitehall, London, for a Pancake Day Rally to protest against the government’s plans for an inheritance tax.
Liz Webster, who owns a farm just outside of Swindon, has been working to get the government to change their plans for months and supports the NFU’s rally.
She said: “Farming has been going through a difficult time for decades, but recently the real problems have come to a head because of the budget.
“And Pancake Day is a great opportunity to talk about food because most people think food comes from a supermarket but, actually, food comes from farms. And now that tensions globally are ratcheting up, it is important for people to think about food and where it comes from because we are an island and in the last two world wars we had significant problems with food because we relied heavily on imports”.
The Pancake Day march starts on Whitehall at 12 noon and will move through Trafalgar Square and Northumberland Avenue, down the Embankment and to Parliament Square.
The rally is set to conclude back on Whitehall at 3pm.
The aim is to get the attention of MPs and demonstrate that farmers across the country refuse to accept the Family Farm Tax.
Farmer and NFU member Olly Harrison, one of the organisers, said: “We don’t need any tractors, this is on foot. We are going to have some kit to show to the MPs to explain the levels of investment.
“We’ve sorted all that out, you just get yourself there on foot. Let’s explain the levels of investment needed in agriculture just to produce something simple like a pancake”.
The Family Farm tax is set to be brought in from April 2026.
If implemented, a farming family would have to give 20% of the total farm value to the government once the previous owner, usually a relative, dies.
So far, farms have been exempt from taxes, but all non-farming assets had to be taxed as usual.
Liz Webster added: “I know farming seems boring, but if we don’t do it then you’re gonna have to ask yourself who is going to feed you and also what our countryside will look like.
“It also impacts our rural economy because loads of other businesses feed into farms. It just doesn’t make any sense why this government is doing what they’re doing. We really seem to have into a government with a very anti-farming agenda and it’s scary”.