Almost 60 supermarkets and suppliers have joined forces to support the National Farmers Union’s (NFU) calls for the Treasury to rethink its proposed changes to inheritance tax.

Led by NFU, the letter, which voices concerns about the government’s plan to scrap Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief, warns that the changes will mean that “investment declines, that productivity flatlines or even begins to fall”.

“Such an outcome would not be in the interests of our consumers, our workforce or the communities where we operate,” it added.

The changes, which were first outlined in the Autumn Budget, will see a 20% levy against inheritance agriculture land worth more than £1m from April 2026, which farmers have argued will put the security of farming and the UK’s food sector at risk.

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Signatories include all major UK supermarkets, as well as major suppliers such as 2 Sisters Food Group, Arla, Cranswick, Kepak, Muller, and Pilgrim’s Europe.

The coalition warns that removing these reliefs “threatens the long-term stability of the nation’s food resilience”.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “We have made our views on this awful family farm tax very clear. Now so have 57 other businesses across the food supply chain.

“This abhorrent policy has united farming and the whole of the supply chain like never before. Scrapping critical inheritance tax reliefs not only affects family-run farms, but it stands to have far-reaching consequences for the whole industry, from food processors to supermarket retailers.”

The NFU has called on the Chancellor to “heed our calls to meet to discuss options and find a way forward out of this current mess”.

Earlier this month, Morrisons sent a message to the farming community, offering support and sharing its concerns for the government’s proposed changes to inheritance tax, with head of agriculture Sophie Throup having said: “We understand your anger and your frustrations at the inheritance tax – and we’re with you.

The following week, Tesco chief commercial officer Ashwin Prasad expressed the supermarket giant’s support for the National Farmers Union (NFU)’s calls for a pause in the implementation of the proposed change to inheritance relief tax.

This was swiftly followed by support for farmers from Waitrose, Ocado, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.