Northern Ireland Agricultural Property Relief row: UFU undertakes a range of high level meetings in Westminster to highlight threat to family farms

Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) representatives will meet Steve Reed who leads the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on Monday, hosted by DUP MP Jim Shannon.

UFU President William Irvine says he and a representative of the Valuers' Association would also give evidence to the Northern Ireland Select Committee on Tuesday.

Farmers say their way of life – and the stability of the national food supply – is under threat since the government announced that agricultural property relief will only apply to the first £1m of a farm, with anything over that value taxed at 20%.

The UFU says that many family farms will have to be sold to pay the tax bill upon the death of the owner.

A protest rally at the Eikon centre near Lisburn last month attracted more than 6,000 people.

UFU president William Irvine told the News Letter: “Huge efforts are ongoing to overturn the family farm tax.”

He added: "It’s absolutely critical that the government realises how disproportionately Northern Ireland’s farm families are affected by the changes to Agricultural Property Relief. Price per acre is much higher in Northern Ireland than England and more farms are under sole ownership, so there is less opportunity to use inheritance tax reliefs from other individuals including spouses.

"This week, these two critical points have been lost in the discussion and they must be brought back into focus and recognised.”