Here is the News.

Actually thinking about this wouldn't you just be swapping inheritance tax for income tax?

Supermarkets run a model based on cheap and choice. It drives bonkers moves like importing and exporting roughly the same quantities of butter. It puts a ludicrous number of varieties of the same thing on the shelves. It forces prices down for farmers and throws away good food because it doesn't look attractive enough. It wraps everything in plastic.

Obviously we can't produce all our own food, especially at the moment as we aren't geared up for it, but more people intensive farming of legumes rather than cereals is likely to be a better option in changing conditions and likely very unstable geo-politics.

The general denial that our lives are going to change dramatically is crazy. We are going to need to change the way we do things and it makes sense to start doing that rather than wait for things to get really bad to realise we can't get what we need.

I pretty much agree with your sentiment I think, pissing about with net zero targets whilst changing nothing is pointless, the world needs wholesale dramatic changes.

Where we differ is I see no way people will change until really really bad shit has happened.

Possibly yes. Also, I assume that Cap Gains tax involves itself in all of this too. I guess my point is that if you put in a rule that means IHT can be extinguished in certain well-meaning circumstances, the tax planning industry will absolutely find a way to game it.

So I’d prefer the proposal if the tax crystallised on the death of the owner but payment could be deferred until sale of the land.. whenever that happens. It lives on a an immovable charge on the land, accruing interest, until that point. That way, the next generation can farm it unhindered by the cashflow impact if it so chooses (accepting that after a few generations a sale would likely be forced… but, really, let’s not set policy on the basis that a child born twenty years from now might want to run his great grandpop’s farm).

We don't differ here to be honest. I see it in loads of conversations all the time. Even people who say they are actively engaged with environmental issues continue to jump on planes. The case still has to be made though and I think trying to change - which is hard in our current systems - is still worth the effort and the right thing to do.

You've got to love farmers, the little rascals with their tractors.