Labour to spend £650,000 of taxpayers’ cash for civil servants to go on countryside discipline journeys and learn the way farms work

The Government will spend £650,000 of taxpayers’ money teaching ‘clueless’ civil servants how farms work by taking them on field trips to the countryside.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has signed a four–year contract to address the gaps in knowledge on rural life.

It follows a string of controversial Labour party policies, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ Inheritance Tax raid on farms – eventually watered down after prolonged demonstrations.

Joe Stanley, head of training at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project, which has been awarded the contract, said most Defra staff are ‘not from farming backgrounds’ – adding they will receive a better foundation of knowledge through the scheme.

Mr Stanley explained: ‘Most Defra staff are not from farming backgrounds, yet they have to make important decisions that affect the agricultural industry. 

‘This contract enables us to share our knowledge and upskill the Defra team, providing a solid foundation to assist in policy and practice.’

But Victoria Atkins, shadow Defra secretary, said the programme exposed the lack of agricultural knowledge in Whitehall.

‘It will not be a surprise to any farmer to learn that many civil servants, like the current crop of ministers they serve, have no clue about farming or the countryside,’ she told The Telegraph.

Scottish farmers held a tractor protest (pictured), over planned changes to inheritance tax along the Edinburgh city bypass on February 2, last year in Edinburgh, Scotland

Farmers protest in February, 2024 outside the Senedd in Cardiff over planned changes to farming subsidies 

Farmers gather during a demonstration on Whitehall on November 19, 2024 in London, England

The civil service training follows a string of controversial Labour party policies including Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ (pictured, file image) Inheritance Tax raid on farms

It is hoped participants in the programme may gain a clearer picture as to how farms operate and the challenges farmers face – as the scheme will combine classroom learning and practical, hands–on farm experience.

For many employees, it will mark their first visit to a commercial farm and first direct engagement with farmers and environmental land management in practice.

But Gareth Wyn Jones, a sheep farmer from Llanfairfechan in Conwy, warned the government was ‘doing things backwards’ – adding ‘they need farmers advising them’.

In December, an official review for the government found farmers had been left ‘bewildered and frightened’ by Labour’s inheritance tax raid and changes to other farming payments.

The farm profitability report by former National Farmers’ Union president Baroness Minette Batters called for a ‘new deal for profitable farming’ that recognises the true cost of producing food and delivering for the environment.

She warned some farmers, particularly those growing arable crops, ‘are questioning viability, let alone profitability’. 

The terms of her review did not include the controversial changes to inheritance tax, which are set to apply to farm businesses worth more than £1 million from April.

Baroness Batters said the tax was raised as the single biggest issue regarding farm viability by almost all respondents to her review.

The farm profitability report by former National Farmers’ Union president Baroness Minette Batters (pictured, file image) called for a ‘new deal for profitable farming’

‘The change to IHT is a major issue for the sector and I have great sympathy with their concerns,’ she wrote.

‘It has been made clear in my terms of reference that is not for me to offer proposals to the Government on IHT. However, I could not write this report without reference to it.’

She added: ‘The farming sector is bewildered and frightened of what might lie ahead.’

As well as the IHT change unveiled in the 2024 Budget, the sector is also facing a sharp rise in costs and increasingly extreme weather, with severe drought this year.

Uncertainty surrounding the closure of applications to the sustainable farming incentive scheme – the main post-Brexit agricultural payments – and proposed changes to inheritance tax had created ‘significant’ ongoing concern, with some farmers questioning viability let alone profitability.

Ian Lomas, a dairy farmer in Matlock, Derbyshire, said he welcomed civil servants looking to broaden their knowledge – however, he questioned the effectiveness of a field trip.

Mr Lomas told The Telegraph: ‘I feel better value for money would be achieved through hiring people from farming backgrounds or at least a percentage of them. 

‘I’ve always struggled with the idea that ministers can be picked to head departments when they have no prior knowledge of the sector. I feel that this is an issue throughout the Government.’

Mr Stanley, head of the training programme, said a lack of expertise is a ‘fundamental characteristic of the British civil service’.

He said farmers should be ‘reassured’ that government is ‘looking to provide these skills to its people, rather than pressing on regardless’.

A Defra spokesman said: ‘We’re backing British farmers as part of a new era of partnership to create a productive, profitable and sustainable future for farming.

‘Farmers’ experience remains central to our policy decision–making and this programme, delivered by a leading countryside organisation, will help further upskill staff to ensure they have a practical understanding of on‑farm realities.’