Hertfordshire’s new farming leader has highlighted how the family farm tax would badly damage the entire rural economy and said the campaign to stop it will continue to gather pace.

First generation farmer Robert Law officially became the new NFU Hertfordshire Chair at NFU Conference in London last week, taking on the role from outgoing chair Gordon Paice.

Mr Law said the NFU’s Stop the Family Farm Tax campaign won’t stop until the government allows its badly miscalculated and damaging planned changes to inheritance tax to be held up to proper scrutiny and consultation.

He said: “Politicians need to realise that, if farming is affected, we don’t invest, we don’t spend money so all the machinery dealers, builders and other businesses who work within agriculture are affected as well.

placeholder image — NFU Hertfordshire Chair Robert Law.

“I remember when inheritance tax was levied on farm businesses in the 1970s and 1980s. It’s expensive to collect and it doesn’t raise much.”

Mr Law farms about 5,000 acres on the home farm at Royston, including arable crops, 1,250 breeding ewes, 60 breeding cows, woodland and grassland. It’s the farm where he started his farming career.

“My father was a solicitor in Newmarket. One summer holiday he sent me out for work experience with one of his clients to this farm near Royston, which was then around 700 acres,” he said.

“I got the farming bug very quickly. I liked the outside life rather than becoming a lawyer, which my father would have preferred.”

After studying agriculture and travelling abroad, Mr Law became farm manager in 1981, buying the business in 1987 and expanding from there by buying land, renting land, contract farming and managing farms.

Today he also manages 1,200 acres in Nottinghamshire and is a partner in an estate in the Scottish Highlands.

Mr Law, a former Farmers Weekly farmer of the year, has been involved in environmental schemes since 1997 and has worked hard to boost biodiversity on the farm.

“I always say you don’t have to do a lot to make a big difference. It’s all about correctly targeted measures in the right places,” he said.

He enjoys hosting farm walks and school visits, including arranging lambing days.

“It’s very rewarding, especially with children from inner-London. Some of them who have never been to the countryside,” he said.

Mr Law has been actively involved in the NFU for many years, including previously on the crops board, livestock board and as vice-chair of the sugar board.

He said: “We have a very good team in Hertfordshire with the group secretaries, County Adviser Josh Redford, and the other officeholders. We all work together, which is important as there’s quite a large area to cover and a mixture of rural and urban areas.”

As well as the family farm tax, key issues include rural crime, such as hare coursing and fly-tipping, and water availability for agriculture, with so much demand for development across the county.

He said: “Taking farming as a whole, I think we’re in a good position in Hertfordshire. We have markets on our doorstep with good transport links and there are opportunities for diversification.”