Stuart Anderson MP has expressed concerns that farmers in South Shropshire have been excluded from a major support scheme, despite the county having the highest number of farms per county in England.
Uplands farmers in South Shropshire have not been included in a government funded scheme that has been designed to tackle rural challenges from affordable housing to limited employment opportunities.
The scheme is set to support both existing and new farmer groups and networks, with funding for activities such as farm visits, talks from expert speakers, and stronger links with innovators at local and sector level.
At the annual Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) on Thursday 8th January 2026, the Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds MP unveiled her plans to build a "new era of partnership" with farmers and land managers.
However, the Government Minister added that the programme would begin in Dartmoor followed by Cumbria - with no mention of Shropshire, which is home to thousands of farms.
This is despite much of South Shropshire being officially designated as a National Landscape. Stuart has said reflects the ongoing need to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the area.
In November 2025, Stuart had also urged Ministers to ensure that South Shropshire's uplands farmers are fully engaged in the development of future farming schemes.
Nonetheless, a three year-extension to the Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme was confirmed, which the government had previously stated would be closing in March 2026.
In April, Stuart called for the scheme, which supports nature recovery and protect the countryside, to be made permanent - a request that has been made by the National Landscapes Association.
Stuart has also secured further details on the restoration of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which was unexpectedly closed in March 2025 despite more than three thousand drafted applications being in progress.
Applicants who started an application within two months of 11th March 2025 but did not submit it by that date were subsequently given six weeks to complete an application.
The first application window is expected to open in June. However, there will be a cap on the level of funding available for specified actions.
The Government has also said that more farms and businesses will be exempt from inheritance tax. Changes announced in December 2025 halved the number of farms the government believe will be affected.
However, the Conservatives would have maintained the full relief which had been in place since 1984. Accordingly, Stuart has repeatedly called for the Family Farm and Business Tax to be scrapped altogether.
300,000 people have signed the Conservative Party petition to reverse the Family Farm and Business Tax which was launched the day of the 2024 Autumn Budget when the changes were announced.
Regrettably, the Environment Secretary has ruled out more changes to farm inheritance plans further to the climbdown in December which saw the allowance for 100% rate of relief increase from £1 million to £2.5 million.
Despite its future funding promises, Stuart has said that the government has already inflicted enormous damage on the rural economy which cannot be reversed with more than six thousand farms having now closed.
Only one in three farmers in England feel positive about their own future in agriculture, according to DEFRA's April 2025 Farmer Opinion Tracker for England.
According to the Country Land and Business Association, 80 per cent of farmers are concerned for the survival of their business and 60 per cent have considered selling their farm.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
"Last week in Oxford, the Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds delivered a speech to farmers. While I am glad that an extension to the Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme has been confirmed, I am greatly concerned that uplands farmers in South Shropshire have not been included in a new government funded scheme that has been designed to tackle rural challenges from affordable housing to limited employment opportunities. This is despite my request that they are fully engaged in the development of future farming schemes. Sadly, Labour's funding promises to farmers will not undo the damage that this government has already caused through more than a year of betrayal for farming communities like ours. Rising food prices, record farm closures, collapsing business confidence, and the damage needlessly inflicted by Labour's Family Farm and Business Tax have all put farmers in an untenable position. Labour recklessly pulled the rug from farmers by pausing the Sustainable Farming Incentive with no warning and then u-turned after Conservative pressure to allow pending applications. I want this Labour Government to support our farmers properly, but their actions have repeatedly shown that they do not understand farming communities like South Shropshire. Only a Conservative Government would properly support our farmers to produce the food that we all need and rely on."
