Farmers raise awareness at events in Bourne, Long Sutton and Boston

Shoppers were able to meet the farmers who produce their food.

Members of South Holland NFU took trailers along to Bourne, Long Sutton and Boston recently to highlight the challenges they face.

The events were held as part of protests against changes to the to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) taxation.

The Government will be collecting a 20% tax rate on agricultural assets valued over £1million following the measure announced in the October budget - and says this is to fund public services such as the NHS. But this is disputed by the NFU.

Simon Gadd, South Lincolnshire NFU chair, said they spoke to hundreds of members of the public on the day including local councillors, county mayoral candidates and others.

He said: “I was at the Boston event where we must have spoken to around 300 people about what we do to produce food and the devastating impact the family farm tax will have on rural businesses, communities and the wider economy.

“Quite a lot of people came up and wanted to talk to us and find out more, we had really positive feedback and they were genuinely interested in what we were up to.

“The support from people from across Boston, Bourne, Spalding and further afield remains vital and I think reflects the fact that more than 270,000 people signed a petition the NFU handed into 10 Downing Street on January 24 urging government to ditch the family farm tax.

“A big thank you to all who supported us and to the farmers for heading to the Long Sutton, Bourne and Boston events on the day.

“The message is clear that we will not go away on this issue.

“This Government policy will have a huge impact on our ability to produce the high-quality food that South Lincolnshire people want as well as hitting those businesses that supply some of the best British flowers in the country.

“This will seriously damage generations of work and also our efforts to protect and enhance the countryside.”