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The environment secretary will meet the head of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on Monday, amid industry anger over what they describe as a “terrible” family farming tax.

Sky News understands Steve Reed will meet with Tom Bradshaw amid calls for a rollback of the tax changes, including from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.

It comes as the NFU says it will organize a ‘mass lobby’ of MPs to voice their discontent. This means that farmers will simultaneously come to Parliament and demand to speak to their MP, which they have the right to do.

According to the Budget documents, from April 2026, farmers will be able to claim a 100% exemption from inheritance tax on the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business assets, up to 50% above.

The government is “restricting the generosity of agricultural support” in an attempt to make the inheritance tax system “fairer”.

The country will also spend almost £600 million on flood defenses and agricultural projects in 2024/2025, but warned that “it is necessary to review these plans” for the coming years.

NFU chairman Tom Bradshaw said: “Farmers and growers are left reeling from the changes announced in the Budget which demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of how the UK agricultural sector is shaped and managed.”

He said current plans to change agricultural property lighting (APR) and commercial property lighting (BPR) “must be quashed quickly”.

Mr Bradshaw added: “Farmers are rightly angry and concerned about their future and the future of their family farms, after being reassured by ministers in the run-up to the Budget that no APR and BPR changes were on the table .”

He also said the Treasury’s claim that this will only affect one in four farms is “misleading” as

“The £1m cap on the April rate shows how little this government understands the sector,” he said, noting that “very few viable farms would be worth less than £1m”.