Domestic farming policy must be rebalanced in 2026 or risk further undermining food production, rural businesses and confidence across the tenanted sector, the Tenant Farmers Association has warned.
The TFA has set out five areas where it says policy has drifted out of alignment, calling for urgent action to restore fairness and resilience in English and Welsh agriculture.
National chair Robert Martin said many of the problems stemmed from a loss of practical judgement. “In a lot of areas we simply need a return to common sense thinking,” he said, warning that “too many things” had been allowed to move “out of kilter for too long”.
Central to the TFA’s concerns is the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in England, which was abruptly closed in spring 2024 after the budget was overspent.
Mr Martin said the scheme had encouraged large-scale land use change away from food production into environmental options delivering “dubious levels of public benefit”, often to the detriment of tenant and contract farmers.
He said land had been removed from occupation so owners could access scheme payments, damaging the productivity and profitability of farming businesses. The TFA wants the scheme reinstated in 2026, but only with a more balanced, land-sharing approach that protects domestic food output.
The association is also calling for fairer treatment of tenant farmers losing land to non-agricultural development, particularly the rapid expansion of solar energy projects.
Mr Martin said the TFA was advising a growing number of tenant farmers facing the loss of land for “a pitiful level of compensation that comes nowhere near covering their real losses”.
He criticised the government for rejecting proposed legal changes to improve compensation, despite assurances made to the tenanted sector ahead of the July 2024 general election, and urged ministers to move more quickly on promised guidance and a Law Commission review.
Imbalances within food supply chains were also highlighted, with the TFA pointing to sustained pressure on arable and dairy producers from volatile markets and high input costs.
Mr Martin said farmgate prices had remained low while retail prices showed little movement, arguing that retailers and food service providers were benefiting while processors protected margins.
He said closer working between the Groceries Code Adjudicator and the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator was needed to restore fairness for primary producers.
The TFA also raised concerns about landlord-tenant relationships. While welcoming the appointment of Alan Laidlaw as England’s first Tenant Farming Commissioner in 2025, Mr Martin said too many tenant farmers still felt like “second-class citizens”.
He said the association would work constructively with the commissioner to improve standards, while welcoming progress in Wales towards a new landlord and tenant code of practice and continued calls for a Welsh Tenant Farming Commissioner.
Finally, the association renewed its call for greater security of tenure on Farm Business Tenancies. Mr Martin warned that with 85% of new FBTs let for five years or less, short-term agreements were undermining investment, innovation and long-term planning. He welcomed Baroness Minette Batters identifying the issue in her Farming Profitability Review but said change had been slow.
He urged ministers to use the Finance Bill currently before parliament to adjust inheritance tax policy to encourage longer tenancies, warning that the government’s refusal to reconsider its approach risked harming the entire sector. He said the prime minister and chancellor “must be prepared to change tack”.
The TFA said restoring balance across land use, supply chains and tenancies was essential not only for tenant farmers, but for food security and the long-term resilience of domestic agriculture.
