With 2026 officially here, NFU president, Tom Bradshaw has reflected on 2025 for the farming sector.

He said: “As we head into the new year, we can take pride in the resilience UK farming has shown over the past 12 months. I am optimistic that we now have firmer ground to build on and grow in 2026.

“It is right to look back and acknowledge that 2025 has been one of the toughest years on record. From impacts caused by global geopolitics and trade deals with the potential to undermine our marketplace, to ongoing price volatility and uncertainty around farming schemes, farmer confidence has reached an all-time low. Add to that the devastating spell of dry weather and drought which wreaked havoc with the summer’s harvest and created ongoing issues for farmers and growers, compounded by the changes to inheritance tax – which has now thankfully been changed.

“However, it is at testing times like these when I am most proud of our sector. Proud to see farmers standing together and proud of the work of the NFU to ensure farming’s voice is heard nationally and locally.

“It is sometimes easy to forget that we have seen notable successes, from our campaign to strengthen the law around attacks on livestock, our lobbying work around planning system reforms to an NFU-led amendment on renters’ rights. We secured concessions on beef access to the US market while US imports were restricted to a limited quota of hormone-free beef and we successfully secured the re-opening of the SFI application window and a roll-over of Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier agreements after several months of campaigning , benefitting thousands of farmers. It’s also great to see that many of the government’s priority actions from the recently published Farm Profitability Review reflect the proposals we put forward in our own submission.

“Our most notable, significant success was of course the changes the government made to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, raising the threshold to £2.5-million. The change has taken 14 months of persistent campaigning by the NFU, its members and allied industries, and thousands of farmers and their families have dug in deep, standing up for what they knew to be right.

“We have had hours of calls with Labour backbenchers, particularly those representing rural seats, resulting in a rebellion with nearly 40 abstentions on the vote on Budget Resolution 50. I also had two very constructive meetings with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and dozens of conversations with Defra Secretary of State Emma Reynolds. I am thankful that common sense has prevailed, the government has listened and there is a huge sense of relief for many farming families across England and Wales.

“Our education programmes have reached over half a million schoolchildren with our live lessons. Our ‘Farmers for Schools’ programme – where trained farmers and NFU staff visit classrooms to talk about food and farming – has more than doubled in reach in the last year alone. Thank you to all members involved in this programme; it really does make a difference.”