Despite all best intentions and precautions, disputes are an all too common occurrence for most farmers and land owners. The disputes can involve their land, their businesses and their entitlement to payment from customers and the state.

Our nationally renowned Agriculture Team has at its core, specialist litigators, who combine their skills in dispute resolution with in-depth knowledge of the agricultural sector, for example, of the statutory tribunals that exist with their own rules.

The team handles a full range of disputes within the agricultural sector. These include not only contractual disputes but also claims against DEFRA, the RPA and other public bodies, particularly within the context of IACS. Here, Judicial reviews and the creative use of human rights legislation is an important area. The skills and experience of our team will become increasingly in demand as we move into the new single farm payment regime.

Our services include advising on:

• Conducting group actions, as well as complex partnership/company disputes and professional negligence claims.
• Environmental law issues, such as pollution, statutory nuisances, waste and Environmental Impact Assessment cases.
• Defending against animal welfare, trading standards and health and safety prosecutions. Agricultural Holdings issues, including security of tenure, succession and arbitrations.
• Common law and statutory property claims, including breach of covenants, injunctions, removal of trespassers and boundary disputes