Newark MP Robert Jenrick gathers different farming authorities at a farm in Sutton on Trent for the annual farming summit

Newark’s MP has urged farmers to ‘keep fighting as hard as you can’ amid concerns over the family farm tax during a rural summit.

The Newark NFU Farming Summit and FCN FarmWell event, organised by Newark’s Tory MP Robert Jenrick, took place on Friday (October 24) at Dunstall Lodge Farm on Grassthorpe Road, hosted by farmer Will Walker.

The meeting brought together farmers from across Newark and Sherwood, along with representatives from the National Farmers’ Union, Farm Community Network, Environment Agency, Severn Trent, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, Nottinghamshire Police, and Nottinghamshire County and Newark and Sherwood District councils.

“The purpose of today is not only to broaden our net and try and involve as many people as possible but also to bring together the real movers and shakers in the rural community and give you the opportunity to ask questions, not just to me, but actually to people who have a greater day-to-day ability to make change happen,” said Mr Jenrick.

The event aimed at giving farmers a stronger voice and direct access to key decision-makers.

During the meeting, Mr Jenrick addressed farmers’ growing anxiety over the so-called family farm tax. He said it was likely to go ahead but urged farmers to keep lobbying MPs to oppose the policy.

“I would keep on fighting as hard as you can until the Budget, when the Chancellor will have to make clear whether it’s definitely going to happen,” the MP said.

“Don’t give up, this matters. Keep protesting, and as lovely as it is to see a tractor in Newark Marketplace, you're preaching to the choir, so go and park it outside Michelle's office.

“I don’t mean any disrespect to these people, but they are the people who have got the greatest influence over this, because they’re the people who are ultimately going to be able to knock on Rachel Reeves’ door and have some say in trying to persuade her to change tack.”

He added that the proposed tax would ‘raise next to no money’ but cause ‘an immense amount of heartache’, ‘pain’ and ‘wasted energy’.

Farmers also raised long-standing concerns about flooding, river maintenance, and rural crime.

Farmer James White said that the meeting was helpful to take things off his chest.

He added: “Food's become undervalued and everybody expects food on the table, and I get a bit frustrated at the moment because everybody talks about food inflation going up and up and up, but actually, it's not represented in farm gate prices.

“If we go back five years ago, wheat was £200 a tonne, then Ukraine kicked off and it went to £300 a tonne.

“Today, it's £150 a tonne, so you can't say it's farm gate prices that are affecting food prices moving forward.

“It's a lot of government policies, other things beyond our control.”

Representatives from the Environment Agency, Internal Drainage Board, and Nottinghamshire County Council discussed issues with river dredging and flood defences along the Trent and surrounding areas.

Richard Cooper, a representative of the Environment Agency, said, “We don’t get enough funding to undertake all the maintenance we’d like,” and that government priorities often allocate funding to higher-risk areas, such as flooding into property and infrastructure, rather than farmland.

The representative added: “It's something that's always baffled me, why a newsagent is higher up in that than a farm.

“From a business perspective, we need the farms to feed the nation, and just because some of your area hasn't got a roof on it doesn't make it, in my eyes, less of a risk.”

Police and fire service representatives also spoke about improving communication and emergency response in rural areas.

Jean Spin, a farmer who has been ‘constantly targeted’ by rural crime, raised concerns regarding police attending incidents — from the amount of time it takes them, to showing up in the first place.

However, she believes that the meeting was very helpful for farmers to have a place where they can raise their concerns directly to the different departments.

She said: “It just feels like sometimes cities are more important than the rural community.”

“I would like to think that the police heard us and that they are going to take this feedback and work on it, but a big concern around is flooding and I know the Environment Agency was here, but I feel that they have taken nothing on board of what we said.”

Inspector Rob Harris, rural and wildlife crime partnerships manager Juliet Webber and Police and Crime Commissioner Gary Godden encouraged farmers to report every incident of rural crime, even minor ones, to help the force allocate more resources.

The force also promoted the use of the Notts Alerts system and shared advice on using What3Words for faster response times.

Will Walker, of the family-owned farm where the event was hosted, said: “I think it went well, farmers could vent their frustrations, and rural crime is a major problem, so it is good that we gathered all the relevant people together.

“Rural people do tend to think that they are a bit out of sight, out of mind, so this was good.”

Assistant chief fire officer Damien West, of Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, also encouraged farmers to contact the service either to arrange familiarisation visits or emergencies such as moving livestock or fires.

Mr West added: “We are very well resourced still and obviously, resources are shrinking across every part of the public sector.

“But we are well resourced and we are here for you.”

The event was co-hosted by the Farm Community Network, which provides confidential emotional and practical support to farmers.

The charity’s representative, Adrian, celebrated his 65th birthday at the event and received a present from the organisers.

He said: “You might think you’re the only person with a downer cow, but get talking to a few people.

“As we know in our industry, you can be isolated and alone, so it’s good to get people together.”

Mr Jenrick added that farming’s financial pressures had taken a toll on mental health, citing that ‘80% of smaller farmers worry that they won’t be able to survive the next five years financially’.