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

Our firmly established and 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.

Our team handles a full range of agricultural disputes. These include not only contractual disputes but also claims against DEFRA, the RPA and other public bodies, particularly within the context of IACS. Judicial reviews and creative use of human rights legislation is an important area. The skills and experience of the team becomes increasingly important 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.