Family farmers are sick with worry after the end of inheritance tax relief on agricultural property – and the breakup of farms will hit food security, writes Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin

We’re a father-and-daughter duo working on our sheep and beef farm in north Devon. Despite our farm being relatively small, we too have been feeling the immediate stress and worry of Labour’s budget announcements, and thousands of others are similarly feeling the strain ( Tax changes in budget last straw for UK farmers after ‘years of being squeezed’, 8 November ).

Mental health has always been a massive issue in the farming industry. There are so many uncontrollable variables to contend with: disease, climate, supermarket prices, not to mention all of the uncertainties following Brexit. We’re literally counting trees and measuring hedgerows in a bid to claw back money lost since leaving the EU, as if we somehow need to prove we’re custodians of the countryside. A complete mockery.