Tenant farmers across the country feel disrespected by their landlords, often ignored and at worst harassed and bullied, according to the results of a survey.
The Tenant Farmers Association's (TFA) survey results, published today (5 February), paint a bleak picture of the relationships between farm landlords and tenants.
It found that 30% of respondents felt ‘bullied or harassed’ by their landlords, rising to 37% in dealing with landlords’ agents and representatives.
And 40% of respondents felt ignored by their landlords, while 70% said they didn't even meet with their landlords on a regular basis.
The TFA said the responses, which came from a few hundred tenant farmers across the country, should spur on "change without delay".
Farmers were also given the opportunity to provide their own, free-text comments. Over a quarter of those who responded chose to do so.
TFA chief executive, George Dunn, said: “It is completely unacceptable in this day and age for anybody to feel either bullied or harassed by their landlords or their agents.
“Although, on the one hand, the statistics generated from the survey tell a sorry story by themselves, it was the scores of comments provided by respondents that really hit hard.
"They demonstrate just how difficult tenant farmers are finding their relationships with their landlords and with their landlords’ representatives.
"There is clearly a huge distance to travel before tenant farmers feel that they are being treated fairly, reasonably and with respect."
The survey was conducted to feed into the call for evidence issued by Defra on the potential role for a new Tenant Farming Commissioner as recommended by the report of the Rock Review.
The TFA said there was no doubt of the need for both a robust Code of Practice for the landlord tenant sector and a new commissioner for the tenanted farming sector.
There was almost a unanimous view from respondents that both initiatives would be helpful in improving landlord tenant relationships.
Mr Dunn added: "I hope that Defra will listen to these heartfelt views and doesn’t delay any further in taking the actions that are necessary to set relationships within the sector on a better trajectory.
"Fairness and mutual respect must be the hallmarks of these relationships going forward."
