Figures are emerging of the true impact on family farms in Pembrokeshire of the government’s controversial plans to introduce inheritance tax (IHT) on agricultural assets.

At current values, one three-generation dairy farming business estimates that its IHT bill would be around £310,000 if the government goes ahead with the proposal to remove agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR).

The government has said that farmers would have the choice of spreading payments over 10 years which, for the Davies family, would be £31,000 a year.

Simon Davies says this is approximately what the business spends annually on property repairs, money that supports local fencing contractors, agricultural supply firms, builders and others.

“Affordability to invest will become an issue for farmers and that means other local businesses will suffer too,’’ Mr Davies predicts.

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He and his family produce milk at two farms, one at Eglwyswrw and the other near Hundleton.

They have met with their local MPs, Labour MP Henry Tufnell, and Ben Lake, of Plaid Cymru, to set out what the Budget proposal means for their farming business and others.

“They took the figures on board and said they would be working hard in the next couple of weeks to make representations on behalf of their farming constituents,’’ says Mr Davies.

Those figures included the land values the Treasury had used in its assessment to come to its figure of the proposals impacted an average of 500 farms a year.

The land values the Treasury used are much lower than the true cost of land.

“The Treasury quoted figures of £6,500 an acre for pasture but in Pembrokeshire that average is £10,500, and £8,000 for arable when in fact it is nearer to £12,000. These figures are all available from the Land Registry or from local property agents so where on earth they got their figures I don’t know,’’ says Mr Davies.

Using lower figures to work out the numbers of farms impacted means that the Treasury will have underestimated the true number.

Mr Davies fears that removing IHT will also push up the price of renting land as landlords try to mitigate the impact.

Mr Davies was in London for last week’s mass rally, organising a bus to take farmers from the north of the county while Pembroke livestock farmer Rob John did the same in the south. Both busses were full to capacity.

With the future of family farms like his in jeopardy, Mr John says he felt compelled to act.

As the father of a five-year-old daughter and a son, aged two, for him the protest wasn’t just about what the government’s plans mean for his generation but for theirs.

“We had to do something and stand together as an industry on this,’’ says Mr John, of Lammaston Farm.

The protesters, he says, were united in their belief that the tax changes would devastate family-run businesses, threaten food security, and undermine the long-term sustainability of the agricultural sector.

Many farms are already struggling with low profit margins and rising operational costs and after the challenges of poor weather in the last 12 months, Mr John says farmers are “at the end of their tether’’.

He was pleased that so many farmers from Pembrokeshire joined the rally.

“It was a long day for everyone but sadly it probably won’t be the last action we need to take to get the government to listen.’’