Changes in inheritance tax arrangements were top of the agenda at the Northern Farming Conference this week, as the Government was urged to rethink the measure amid fears for the future of small, family farms.

Under plans announced in the Budget, inheritance tax will be charged at 20 per cent on farms worth more than £1m, although Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that in some cases the threshold could in practice be about £3m.

The move has caused a considerable backlash from farming and countryside communities, and led to a dispute over just how many farms and farm businesses would be affected.

Wednesday's Northern Farming Conference at Hexham Auction Mart, which saw farmers angry at the Budget measures hold a protest outside, began with a debate about the changes to Agricultural Property Relief.

Labour Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner spoke about the country's "very challenging fiscal situation" which he said meant the new Government had to make "difficult decisions on a whole range of things".

"I absolutely recognise the anxiety in this room around the changes to Agricultural Property Relief," he said. "I've seen the evidence that the Treasury produced for those changes, and I would urge people to look closely, because I am absolutely convinced that the majority of farmers will be able to pass on their properties, just as they have before.

"There are cases where people are coming in from outside with large amounts of money, buying up land, not for farming, but frankly, to use the current tax system for their advantage. So that's why we have announced the plans to reform Agricultural Property Relief."

Announcing that the first commissioner for the tenant farming sector in England would be appointed in spring 2025, he added that APR change is "part of a fair and balanced approach we want to take across the entire sector, regardless of farm type, location or size".

He urged the industry to work together collaboratively to overcome current challenges, and promised to "listen and engage whenever necessary".

However the Budget was criticised by fellow panelists Robbie Moore, Conservative MP and shadow environment minister, and Tim Farron, Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and his party's environment spokesman.

Mr Farron spoke about the importance of food security, particularly in light of Donald Trump's victory in the US Presidential election, with potential implications for the war in Ukraine, and new tariffs on imports into America.

"Many people say that food security is national security," he said. "If we didn't mean it then, then by golly, this morning we need to mean it very very seriously."

To applause, he continued: "The fact that the last government, and this government has continued it, has engineered and put together an agricultural policy that consciously seeks to disincentivise the production of food is utter and total madness and it is seen to be ever so more starkly this morning."

In relation to the Budget, he said of the roughly 1,500 farmers in his constituency, 440 will be directly affected by the new measures. "Of those 440, I could take you to many who are not just on less than the minimum wage, less than a quarter of the minimum wage," Mr Farron said.

"Hill farmers have seen a reduction in their incomes of 41 per cent in the last five years which is an outrage in itself. The people potentially who are being brought into this tax bracket are people who by any other metric would be considered on the poverty line and below. The consequences are desperate for those people and families, but also for our ability to feed ourselves as a country."

The panel later took questions from the floor, with audience members asking about how to improve labour supply, voicing concerns about the APR changes – including calls to raise the £1m threshold significantly – and how to make the industry more attractive for future entrants.