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Estate Planning Inheritance
As an owner of a SME rural business, what are the business trends to keep an eye on in 2026 for growth and resilience?
Amy Woolliscroft27th July 2026
At Accession we’re proud to work with the owners and key personnel of small and medium-sized rural enterprises to make sure that their personal financial plans tie-in with those of the business, so that when the time comes, their exit strategy is fit for purpose.
Retirement resting on the sale of your business – how can you make sure it’s worth what you need by the point of sale to have a comfortable retirement?
Planning to hand the reins on to the next generation – have you built up enough of a private pension and other investments to be able to afford to do this?
The key business trends for 2026 lean towards encouraging growth and resilience, leaving you as business owners in a stronger position for a sale, or protecting the business for your loved ones to take on.
Let’s take a look…
Integration of AI
AI, or Artificial Intelligence, can all sound a bit scary, but farm businesses are increasingly integrating systems into their operation to help drive productivity.
AI agents can be put to work on tasks such as automated customer services for direct-to-customer businesses, as well as agricultural tasks that we have seen recently on TV shows – with AI-powered bots at the sharp end, and more commonly used data-driven AI such as crop density mapping perhaps at the more familiar end of things. Social media algorithms also use AI to help drive content to you that it thinks you will find more interesting or useful.
Research indicates that over 50% of UK farmers now use AI in their business, while 68% use social media every day.1
Perhaps you use tools such as ChatGPT to check input prices or you respond to an AI-driven post or advert on Facebook or Instagram, but the same report indicates that farmers still prefer to work with professionals on key professional decisions, from agronomists to solicitors, and of course – financial planners!
It’s important to understand that while technology can streamline processes and do some jobs that a human couldn’t even think of, nothing can replace the nuanced understanding of a qualified professional to support your personal finances and your business as it grows or prepares for a change of ownership.
Remember, AI cannot deploy judgement!
Resilient Business Models
With global economic growth projected to slow to 3.1% in 2026 and 3.2% in 20272, forward-thinking businesses are preparing for disruptions including rising costs and supply chain vulnerabilities. Fertiliser price volatility is the perfect example of this, with reduced availability and huge cost swings.
It also stands to reason that business owners who project stability and resilience, backed up by an agile team will have a better chance of weathering the storm.
This applies to your financial plans too.
By working with a chartered financial planner over the longer term, making a plan that will guide you through the good and bad years to realise your long-term objectives, rather than responding in a panicked fashion to world events and short-term drama, you introduce resilience and stability to your life, and ultimately your business too.
Cybersecurity as a Priority
Remember when we were told we would walk around with a little computer in our hands and everyone poo-pooed the idea? Now that’s a daily reality, and with most businesses relying heavily on digital systems, cybersecurity can’t just be left to the IT department - if you have one!
SMEs including farms are increasingly taking control of their cybersecurity to ensure that their, and their customers’ data, is not left vulnerable. In November 2025 the profits of retailer Marks & Spencer were devastated after a cyber-attack; it’s worth remembering that a cyber-attack could be just as damaging to your business, even if you are running a much smaller-scale operation.
Thankfully there are lots of digital defense options out there – including authenticator app such as Microsoft Authenticator – which stop smaller businesses being targeted by cybercriminals. At Accession we use the fully encrypted St. James’s Place app and DocuSign to provide maximum security to our communications and how you access your financial plans and reports.
Evolution of Sustainability
Sustainability is no longer an ideological ambition for farms, with the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) grants and Countryside Stewardship schemes offering the only ‘subsidies’ to UK farmers with the loss of the Basic Payment Scheme de-linked payments by 2027.
SFI opened for the first wave of applications on 30th June 2026, covering over 100 sustainable land activities capped to £100,000 per farm, per year.
Alongside this, rural businesses face heightened regulatory pressure, with tougher scrutiny on meeting environmental targets, and an expectation to shout about all of this on social media too if they are direct-to-customer. The outlook for direct-to-customer farm shops and pick-your-own businesses should hopefully be positive against this backdrop, as people become more concerned about food miles and animal welfare, even with a rising cost of living.
In a more volatile world, a more sustainable supply-chain can have positive business effects beyond environmental too.
How can we help?
Financial planning when you are a business owner is about joined-up thinking for your personal finances, your business and your wider family, to ensure you all know the end game – whether that’s a sale or handover to the next generation – and that everyone who is involved in that has their financial objectives on track.
Accession specialises in providing high-quality, face-to-face intergenerational wealth management and business exit planning advice for farming families, professionals, rural businesses and families across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and the surrounding counties.
All three Accession financial advisers – Emma Wilcock, Joe Moricca and Richard Jones - are Chartered Financial Planners and Fellows of the Personal Finance Society, accolades held by a very small number of financial advisers in the UK and meaning we are fully equipped to help guide you through planning for the future. They are also all Top-Rated Financial Advisers with VouchedFor, the independent review platform for professional services.
If you or someone you know would benefit from speaking to one of our advisers about planning for the future, please do contact us on 01832 279170 or accession@sjpp.co.uk to discuss your requirements and get an appointment in the diary.
Exit Strategies may include the referral to services not provided by SJP.
SJP Approved 24/7/2026
1 Hillsgreen, Marketing to Farmers Report 2025/26, September 2025 - 942 UK farmers surveyed.
2 International Monetary Fund, WORLD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK Global Economy in the Shadow of War Report, April 2026