Tens of thousands of British %Farmers have descended on Parliament in the United Kingdom to protest a tax increase they say will deal a death blow to struggling family farms.

The protests come after the British government in its latest budget scrapped a tax break that exempts %Agricultural property from inheritance tax.

Beginning in April 2026, farms worth more than 1 million pounds ($1.3 million U.S.) will face a 20% tax when the owner dies and the land is passed onto other family members.

Farm machinery and tractors drove past Downing Street in central London with signs reading “no farmers, no food.” Other signs read “Stand with a farmer, not Starmer,” in reference to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Climate change and the upheaval caused by Britain’s departure from the European Union have hurt U.K. farmers in recent years. Many say the tax change is the last straw for them.

Starmer’s government says about 75% of U.K. farms will not have to pay inheritance tax, and various loopholes mean that a farming couple can pass on an estate worth up to 3 million pounds ($3.9 million U.S.) to their children tax-free.

The government adds that the proposed 20% levy on farms is half the 40% inheritance tax paid on other land and property in the U.K.

Government officials and other supporters of the tax say what it will really accomplish is recoup money from wealthy people who have bought agricultural land as an investment.

But the famers say more than 60% of working farms could face a tax hit in coming years. And while farms might be worth a lot on paper, profits are often small.

Government data shows that income for most types of farms fell in the last year, in some cases by more than 70%.

Average farm income ranged from about 17,000 pounds ($21,000 U.S.) for grazing livestock to 143,000 pounds ($180,000 U.S.) for specialist poultry farms.