News
Hugh Townsend has for 25 years been the country's "go-to" commentator on farm quotas and rural surveying issues affecting farmers. Having become the country's leading and most innovative quota agent he was broadcast to 3.8 million listeners on Radio 4's PM programme interviewed by Eddie Mayer on the 1st April 2015 – the Dawning of Europe without Milk Quotas, click here. More recently BBC1 interviewed Hugh Townsend on the future of farming following the Referendum, click here.
Hugh Townsend has over the years developed the most creative arrangements to promote an efficient market in farm quotas, in the early eighties developing leasing milk quota without land before the Milk Marketing Board introduced leasing for a part of the milk year.
He represented clients in leading legal cases defending transfers of milk quota and developed the new system of second TQ1 forms protecting the transfer of quotas with land.
In 1991, with Farmers Weekly he produced the first sale price index countrywide and started to publish farm quota sales and leasing graphs which are still published by Farmers Weekly and other publications and can be seen on our Milk Quota & Entitlements pages.
On BBC television he has defended dairy farmers who have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous inpiduals in the farm quota market and was again on television to comment on the "footballers buy milk quota" rumpus.
He regularly writes for Farmers Guardian and the South West's Western Morning News and our experienced team is sought after for their comments on farm quotas.
Western Morning News – 27.01.16 – Farming can recover from bad year
The clement climate and lack of natural disasters worldwide in 2015 has left us with an oversupplied global market in grain, with wheat prices now at £100 a tonne. Thankfully the UK also had a good harvest but the immediate outlook is pretty chilly; however the medium to long term demand for food worldwide is…
Read MoreWestern Morning News – 13.01.2016 – Care must be taken with agricultural property relief
Mr Osborne’s budget in the summer of 2015 implemented a staged increase in the Inheritance Tax (IHT) threshold from £325,000 to £500,000 between 2017 and 2021 via the ‘family home allowance’. This can then be doubled for married couples and civil partners. This is all very well, but what about additional agricultural assets on and…
Read MoreFarm Facts 2016
The 2016 edition of our handy pocket sized Farm Facts leaflet is now available. If you would like a free hard copy of the leaflet to be posted to you, please telephone us on 01392 823935 or email us at office@townsendcharteredsurveyors.co.uk with your postal details. Alternatively, if you would like to view or download Farm Facts 2016, please…
Read MoreWestern Morning News – 09.12.2015 – Lifting AOCs
With agricultural prices depressed again farmers are looking for means of diversification or other ways to raise additional working capital. One to consider is the lifting of an agricultural occupancy condition (AOC) applying to a farmhouse or cottage. The value of a dwelling with an AOC can in the worst case scenario be depressed by…
Read MoreWestern Morning News – 07.12.2015 – Salmon fishing on the Exe
The Southwest is blessed with a great choice of Salmon rivers and has a particularly long season, with Salmon being in season somewhere in the Southwest from February through to December, leaving a closed season of little more than six weeks in the dead of winter. Although the Cornish rivers are well known for summer…
Read MoreWestern Morning News – 18.11.2015 – Vital to keep up with new rules as they affect farms
The month of October saw a number of changes and amendments to regulations within England come into force. Home Business Tenancies Any new tenancy of a dwelling which starts after the 1st October in England and Wales which permits a ‘home business’ to be carried out in the house will be exempt from the security…
Read MoreWestern Morning News – 04.11.2015 – Methods of sale
Once you have made a decision to sell your property, be it land, a farm or just a house or cottage, one of the first things you need to decide is the method of sale that best suits your situation and your property. The most common, and the one most of us are familiar with,…
Read MoreWestern Morning News – 21.10.15 – Good timing essential if you’re selling farm
When planning for your farming future Inheritance Tax (IHT) and Capital gains Tax (CGT) should always be on the menu when speaking with your land agent, solicitor and accountant. Do you consider selling the farm sooner or later, which may well incur a CGT liability at the point of disposal, or do you keep hold…
Read More08.10.2015 – ENTITLEMENT TRADING UPDATE – AUTUMN 2015 – TRADE BEGINS
The entitlement market has already kicked off this season. Many landlords, tenants and their agents have recently been negotiating end of tenancy arrangements, and entitlements have of course been in discussion. In England the oversupply of Non-SDA seen last season should now have gone as surplus unused entitlements have reverted to the National Reserve meaning…
Read MoreWestern Morning News – 30.09.15 – Is share farming an option for you?
Share Farming has recently been championed by the CLA as a structure which could be used to overcome many of the challenges the agricultural industry currently faces. A new share farming promotion has been launched with the intention of helping young farmers across the UK to ‘get their first foot on the farming ladder.’ …
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