This week BBC Radio 4 programme, Farming Today, looks at tenant farmers in the run up to the National Tenant Farmers Conference on Thursday.
Presenter Charlotte Smith spoke to NFU Vice President and tenant farmer Adam Quinney this morning (4 November). He said: “It is very difficult to go and buy land based on the agricultural production of that land, the value of land is based on many other things – which is the case for all farmers.
“We want to look at new ways of funding expansion or investment for tenant farmers. Not just using your own capital to do it but to actually work in partnership with other people.
“If you’re a young person who wants to invest in machinery and equipment and you only have security for three years, this isn’t going to be encouraging to you or your bank manager to make that investment.
“We need to look at longer tenancies and we need to make sure the tax breaks are there for the landowner to give the longer tenancies to tenants."
Listen to Farming Today here
Tune into BBC Radio 4 at 5:45am every morning, listen online or download the podcast now.