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Landowners across the UK are increasingly caught between having too much water and too little. In recent years, many have faced increasingly challenging conditions, from flooding and waterlogged soils that have made land difficult to work, to periods of hot, dry weather that have hit forage supplies, crop yields and seen private water supplies dry […]

Farming & food  Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 (SFI26) Window 2 opens on 22 September (England)    Demand is expected to be exceptionally high for this so be ready to submit an application as soon as possible as they will be determined on a first-come-first-served basis.  Please call our farming team if you would like any assistance.  Strutt & Parker’s twice-yearly farm and estate staff […]

Affordable housing delivery in rural England has long faced a structural challenge. Housing need is often acute, but schemes are typically small and development costs are higher. As a result, Registered Providers (RPs) can find individual Section 106 opportunities difficult to justify commercially. The Government’s latest announcements in this space provide a significant strengthening of […]

The need for rural estates to adapt has never been clearer. Rising costs, regulatory pressures, and shifting demands on land use have made it evident that standing still is not an option. While the forces reshaping the rural sector are significant – from climate change to taxation – the consensus is clear: resilience depends on […]

Farming & food SFI26 Window 1 now closed and Window 2 opening on 22 September (England) The window for smaller farms and applicants without an existing agreement has now closed.  The unspent Window 1 funding will be added to the Window 2 budget, which is now £290m.  Defra has published some interesting data on the […]

Struggling, surviving or transforming – which type of business is yours? For years, we’ve heard warnings that UK agriculture is at a crossroads and while many farming businesses have folded over the past two decades the system has never fully imploded. But now we really are at a critical juncture. Even the pragmatists are concerned. […]

The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) brings some important changes for the development viability process – in particular where and when viability is likely to be tested. Viability assessments are used to establish whether a development is financially viable, by looking at the value and costs of a proposal, which includes establishing the maximum […]

Scotland’s rural estates and farms are well-positioned to capitalise on continued growth in experience-based tourism, with strong interest from consumers – particularly Gen Z and Millennials – for activities based around food, nature, heritage and the outdoors. An expanding body of research points to consumers increasingly prioritising their discretionary spending on leisure activities and experiences. […]

The new rules-based National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has landed and represents the most significant rewrite of national policy since the introduction of the NPPF in 2012. It is not necessarily a substantive shift in policy (that came in the NPPF 2024), but a new policy-based framework, divided into plan-making and decision-taking policies, and much […]

Resolving disputes can be extremely challenging for family farms and other rural businesses. Decisions about succession, the future of a partnership or the value of land and property not only have financial implications, but can also impact on relationships between family members, neighbours and others who may have worked together for years. A disagreement over […]

Farming & food Drought and climate change relief package for land managers  Following the driest July on record in England (and Wales) and the third drought in five years, the government has announced an aid package to support land managers.  It includes: The government also, rightly, stressed that land managers must also take steps themselves […]

Drought conditions continue to take a serious toll on farmers and landowners across England and Wales, resulting in devastating wildfires, worryingly low spring-fed private water supplies, dwindling fodder supplies and crop failures. In response, the Governments of both countries have announced measures aimed at supporting farmers and landowners through these challenging conditions. Farmers in Wales […]