THE AGRICULTURAL LEGAL CHALLENGE

Now is the time of the year many agricultural shows to take place: most recently it was the Northumberland County Show and now the Yorkshire Show in Harrogate.  They are always extremely popular and are an opportunity for the farming community to catch up on old friends and new ideas and for an enjoyable day out.  The pleasure derived by visitors to these shows hides the complexities of putting them on.

These complexities were highlighted recently in an edition of BBC’s Radio 4 programme, “Farming Today”, where the organisers of one such event were commenting on the plethora of bureaucracy and red tape which they have to take into consideration: Health and Safety regulations, fire risk assessment, and now of course travelling restrictions, particularly regarding poultry caused by the concerns about bird flu with its H7 and H5N1 strains.

This topic brought to mind a recent book by Ross Clark, which highlighted the increasing regulation creep from the current government.   In the 12 months to 31 May 2006, the government produced 3,621 pieces of legislation, running to 98,600 pages.

There are 279 tax forms for business, asking a total of 6,614 questions.

The notes explaining the Treasury’s “simplified pensions regime” run to 1,369 pages.

There are even 45 pages of instructions on how to label a goat (or sheep) correctly. 

In fact, the title of this thought provoking book is “How to Label a Goat”.

For the agricultural sector, its prime purpose of food production is now closely linked to food safety, environmental issues, land management and the maintenance of a sustainable rural way of life, together with the all important requirement to provide an economically viable way of life for farmers, their staff, families and suppliers.

With the current emphasis on sustainable energy supplies and the world-wide debate on climate change, there are now varying uses being made of our limited UK land resource.  Bio-fuels can offer alternative crop utilisation and another form of renewable energy in the form of wind turbines is slowly increasing.  The first wind farm was set up in the UK in 1991.  Now there are over 1,100 wind turbines operating from over 80 sites in the UK, providing about 0.5% of the UK’s electricity.

The government’s recent Energy Review has set a target of producing 20% of the UK’s energy from renewable resources by 2020, up from 4% now.

Some enterprising land owners see wind power as an opportunity, others a (different) threat to our environment.  Wind power generation companies (no doubt encouraged by government policy) are prepared to pay to establish wind farms in suitable areas.  But given the “anti” lobby and despite government policy, the establishment of a wind farm can often be a difficult process.  Planning difficulties mean that specialist advice needs to be taken.  Elaine Carson, Head of Commercial Services at Sandersons, Solicitors, Hull is one of only a handful of lawyers in our region with the experience of handling this type of project.  Experience has shown that a close and detailed co-ordination of a number of key government and local agencies is required.  The sometimes competing objectives of the land owner and the power company need to be reconciled in a way which preserves and enhances values for all parties. 

Farmers, like any other businessmen, need to plan for the future and in these days of tight profit margins, may also consider other uses for their skills and assets, such as tourism, farm shops, Bed and Breakfast etc.  In each case, it is vital that they seek the sound commercial legal advice that they need to set up a separate company for diversification.  They may also need to consider the impact of passing on their land to the younger generation.  Estate planning to minimise or avoid inheritance tax, perhaps through Agricultural Property Relief, is a complex subject but can be made simple by taking expert evidence.  Bruce Cherrington in the Beverley office or Duncan Rann in Hull can advise on this subject. 

Whatever the problems of agriculture today and the challenge of the future, no doubt our farming community will continue to flourish and survive.

Duncan Rann or Bruce Cherrington

Sandersons Solicitors

Tel:  01482 324662

Email: enquiries@sandersonssolicitors.co.uk

Source:  Yorkshire Today, June 2007