For Rebecca Tonks, running St Ewe Eggs has been a passion project for 17 years.

Tonks, who was 12 when her family first started selling eggs in addition to its dairy produce, launched the St. Ewe Free Range Eggs brand to UK supermarkets in 2007 under the Red Lion accreditation.

“It didn’t take very long for us to start supplying out of [Cornwall] and then regionally for [Asda and Sainsbury’s],” Tonks says.

By 2019, the company had reached a valuation of over £7m, and since then the company has “grown at a rate of knots”, she adds. “Nutrition is our core USP… We went out with a little bit of a different mission, wanting to share the beauty of the West Country, wanting to share the nature of good food.”

But farming has become more gloomy lately, she explains, with the “utter carnage” of changes to inheritance tax policies. “I think everyone’s feeling quite hollow at the moment… there’s a sense of disrespect.”

Farmers have been vocally against changes to inheritance tax (IHT) announced in Labour’s Autumn budget last year.

Supermarkets, too, have come out against the tax, although this has been condemned by some – such as Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson – as hypocritical given their role in farmers’ financial struggles, Singh-Watson has told The Grocer.

From April 2026, inheritance tax relief for business and for agricultural assets will be capped at between £1.3m and £3m – depending on whether they are married and if they are passing the asset to a child or another family member – with a rate of 20 per cent for assets above that. 

“Running St Ewe’s takes a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of drive, a lot of momentum… it’s really exciting, and it’s fun, and the farming sector has lost all that right now,” Tonks says. 

A key point of contention is the inclusion of non-residential agricultural buildings, farm vehicles, tools and livestock in that valuation. 

“Just because a farm is a valuable asset it doesn’t mean those who work it are wealthy,” National Farmers Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw said. “It’s clear the government does not understand that family farms are not only small farms.”

The NFU, whose poultry board Tonks also sits on, organised a rally in London last November to protest the tax change, with more than 10,000 people and 600 tractors in attendance.

Farmers have warned that the UK’s food security is at stake if farmers are forced to break up their estates to pay off death duties. Around 60 per cent of the food consumed in the UK is domestically produced. 

The Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed that older farmers may struggle to reorganise their affairs to minimise the new costs, and has also suggested that farmers are likely to slash investment because of the tax raid.