Petra Grunenberg heads the Rural Property and Business team at the UK law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn. We asked her about her experiences during 20 years in the sector, which of the recent legal changes she thinks will be most significant, and how business owners should respond.

How long have you worked in the rural sector?

I’ve been a solicitor in the rural sector for over 20 years, and now lead a team which includes other specialists, very much ingrained in the rural sector. Hamish Lean, Emma Robertson, Stuart Greenwood, Richard Leslie… I could go on.

During that time, what changes have surprised you the most?

The variety of things that we are now asked to deal with and advise on. The sector is very dynamic: where 20 years ago we were mainly advising on agricultural holdings and farm transactional work, now, as businesses have grown and diversified, and legislation has developed, it’s become a much more complex area of law. We are now often dealing with very large and complex business structures.

What are the biggest misconceptions that people outside the rural sector have about it?

I think people generally believe that there’s a lot of money in farming – and don’t get me wrong, there are some very successful businesses out there, but there are also a lot of people who are only making a very moderate living.

I think there should be room for those who want to work on a smaller scale, perhaps farm differently, to still be successful in doing that. And that’s becoming more and more difficult, I think.

 

Not only have there been lots of legislative changes, there is uncertainty about what the new subsidy system will look like

How would you describe the general mood in the rural sector right now? 

I think uncertainty is the biggest problem at the moment. Not only have there been lots of legislative changes over the last two years, there is ongoing uncertainty about what the new subsidy system will look like. Also, you know… uncertainty in politics always translates to uncertainty on the ground.

Of those legal changes, which do you think will have the greatest impact?

In the last 12 months, the focus has really been on the inheritance tax changes. That’s moved the focus away from some of the other big changes, such as land reform and the new subsidy scheme, two important bits of legislation making their way through that are also going to have a huge impact for larger estates and land holdings, of which there’s quite a few in Scotland, with the subsidy scheme affecting everybody who’s trying to plan or to decide what to invest in. Detail and implementation is still awaited.

Looking forward to the next 12 months, what developments would you most like to see?

A lot of the land reform legislation now has to be implemented by secondary legislation. We really want to see the detail of that, so that people actually know what it is that they’re dealing with.

And similarly on the inheritance tax legislation: that really needs to be completed and passed through Parliament, so that we can start giving people advice based on legislation rather than draft legislation.

People were already making decisions and taking active steps to change their business structures after October 2024, when the rules were suddenly changed again in December 2025. It’s uncertainty that is the real enemy here.

Above all, what is your message to people who live, work, operate in the rural sector? 

For a long time, the rural sector has benefited from really significant subsidies and tax reliefs. That is now changing, so it is very important that people take advice and take it soon. Not just from their lawyers, but also their accountants and their land agents.

Scotland’s rural sector gather this weekend at the Royal Highland Show. The RHS is an annual event, showcasing the best of food, farming and rural life at Ingliston in Edinburgh. Thursday 18 – Sunday 21 June, 2026.

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