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The CLA, which represents 28,000 farmers and rural businesses, urged the government to rethink its "current disastrous policy" on inheritance tax.

CLA president Victoria Vyvyan said the "clawback" proposal would limit the damage to family businesses while targeting "those who have bought land to shelter wealth for short-term gain".

The CLA said farmers can help protect their property by digging ditches to make it harder for vehicles to get onto fields, and it is urging communities to alert police and neighbours to anything suspicious.

The CLA represents thousands of small rural businesses and Ms Wright described to the BBC incidents of gamekeepers who have been beaten up.

The CLA figure is not an annual one and, clearly, a farm would only be potentially subject to inheritance tax if it was passed on, following a death.