Farmers and landowners gathered in East Anglia to hear expert insights on agricultural policy during "a time of great uncertainty" for their industry.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) brought its Agricultural Transition Roadshow to Elveden Village Hall, in the village near Thetford.

Farmers heard updates on the accelerated phase-out of EU-era Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) subsidies, and the new post-Brexit environmental payments being introduced.

Cameron Hughes, CLA senior land use policy adviser, explained the latest policy developments under the new Labour government, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and other transition schemes.

Meanwhile, Katie Crawford of Ceres Rural explained how free farm business advice is available to help navigate this period of "unprecedented change in the industry.

There were also presentations from the Forestry Commission and Catchment Sensitive Farming, while Bruce Masson, a partner at Larking Gowen accountants, provided an update on the potential impact of controversial changes to farm inheritance tax relief, announced in the budget, which have sparked angry protests and industry campaigns.

Speaking after the event, Mr Hughes, said: “With so much noise around the proposed changes to agricultural and business inheritance tax reliefs and the real-terms cut in the agricultural budget announced last month by chancellor Rachel Reeves, it is important to keep abreast of all the developments and what they could mean for farming businesses.

“The agricultural transition in England continues to progress, with the new Sustainable Farming Incentive expanded offer being rolled out as cuts to BPS continue.

"The accelerated reduction in the 2025 delinked BPS payments announced in the budget will be far greater than many businesses will have expected or planned for in cash flow projections, and will hit some rural businesses hard.”

He added: “At a time of great uncertainty, it is important for us to share as much information as possible about the ever-changing world the agricultural industry is operating in. Our session in Elveden equipped members with the key policy updates and with information that will help their businesses navigate this challenging period in the agricultural transition.”

Mr Hughes also said the CLA has concerns over whether Defra and the Rural Payments Agency are able to roll out new Environmental Land Management schemes quickly enough to enable the recovered BPS funding to be spent.

"This is in the context where Defra has been battling an agricultural budget underspend issue for the past three financial years," he said. 

“The CLA continues to lobby the government on this and is also meeting regularly with ministers to get them to reassess their plans for inheritance tax."