In 2024 alone, 615 agricultural, forestry and fishing businesses closed, the highest number on record. Pembrokeshire Member of the Senedd, Samuel Kurtz, who is the Welsh Conservatives’ shadow rural affairs secretary, described the new figures as “alarming’’. They are family businesses that keep rural Wales alive. Earlier this month, a Pembrokeshire farming family highlighted the ripple effect the inheritance tax changes could have on rural businesses. Janet Cornock said her family’s mixed dairy farming businesses was “in jeopardy’’ if the government did not row back on its plans.