Tenant farmers’ heartbreak following their final harvest on land set for solar panels

A tenant farming family has spoken of its heartbreak after their final harvest from 110 acres of arable fields it has worked for more than 70 years.

Rob and Emma Sturdy said the loss of land to a solar and battery energy storage development at the Fitzwilliam Trust’s 280-acre Eden Farm, Old Malton, would mean productive farmland was being permanently taken out of agricultural production.

Mrs Sturdy captured the emotion of the final harvest in a video shared on X, which has been viewed more than 370,000 times.

“Standing in this field and watching Rob combine... this is the last time. The last time we'll harvest them,” she said.

“It sounds mad to be so emotionally attached to something, but this is part of this farm’s makeup. It’s who we are. It’s everything, and to think this is the last harvest is heart-breaking.

“But we did everything we could. Onwards and upwards.”

In granting the scheme permission last year at an appeal, the Secretary of State acknowledged it would result in “irreversible detriment” to Eden Farm as an existing successful agricultural business, but said its renewable energy benefits outweighed the harm.

The Sturdys then pursued a High Court challenge to the decision, but their bid to overturn the approval was unsuccessful, bringing their legal challenge to an end.

Mrs Sturdy said: “Our experience has exposed just how vulnerable lifetime tenant farmers can be. These were tenancies we believed offered long-term security, but the reality has proved otherwise.”

Tenanted land comprises about 34 per cent of Yorkshire’s agricultural land.

Mrs Sturdy said: “Tenant farmers must be able to benefit from the transition to renewable energy, rather than being left to bear the cost of it. We also believe planning policy around the use of the best and most productive farmland for solar development needs urgent review.”

For the family, however, the campaign has developed into a much wider call for change. Their experience has highlighted an urgent need to review tenancy compensation arrangements, particularly for Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 tenants whose businesses face the permanent loss of productive land.

Baroness Minette Batters' Farm Profitability Review in December recommended giving the Tenant Farming Commissioner stronger statutory powers to protect and support tenant farmers. In addition, Baroness Rock, author of the Rock Review into tenant farming in England, has cited the Sturdys’ experience in the House of Lords while calling for urgent reform of compensation legislation.

The final harvest comes as the Tenant Farmers Association called on Andy Burnham’s new Government to address the lack of security of tenure offered to tenant farmers.

It points towards the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers’ annual Land Occupation Survey showing reduced confidence within the landlord community. Average lengths of term on new tenancies have dropped to just over three years, and nearly 85 per cent of all new tenancies were offered for terms of five years or less.

TFA Chief Executive, George Dunn, said: “It is hugely worrying that those who have let securely previously are now more likely than ever to sell the farms they had previously let rather than allowing them to be offered to new farm tenants who can progress within the agricultural industry. This is a clear case of the market pushing things in the wrong direction and a sign that the Government must step in to correct that.”