The environment secretary, Steve Reed, will announce a five-year extension of the seasonal farm worker scheme to improve relations with farmers following criticism of changes to inheritance tax. At the National Farmers’ Union conference, Reed will also introduce a new national biosecurity center aimed at addressing diseases such as foot-and-mouth and bluetongue. Controversy over the adjustment of inheritance tax terms for farms has caused widespread discontent among farmers, who argue that these changes threaten their family businesses. Reed aims to improve the profitability of farming to ensure its sustainability for future generations. The CBI chair, Rain Newton-Smith, and the NFU president, Tom Bradshaw, are expected to criticize the government’s stance on inheritance tax at the conference. Reed will also pledge £110 million for farming technology and require government contracts to source British produce. The seasonal worker scheme, which was extended from 2021 to 2024 and then to 2025, addresses labor shortages that led to significant crop waste in 2022. Despite plans to replace workers with robots in the future, the technology is still in its early stages and not yet viable for widespread use on farms.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/25/uks-seasonal-farm-worker-scheme-to-be-extended-for-five-years