English farmers could be paid for producing higher welfare food post-Brexit

English farmers could be paid for producing free-range eggs or grass-fed beef under post-Brexit changes to agricultural subsidies, the Government will announce today.

Higher welfare English food could also be labelled in shops to give consumers greater choice, amid concerns over import standards in post-Brexit trade deals.

English farmers will also ultimately have higher legal standards for the food they produce, in a move that could increase concerns about global competitiveness.

Reforms to the £3bn subsidies for farmers under the much-maligned EU Common Agricultural Policy are a cornerstone of the Government’s post-Brexit plans.

Where the CAP was blamed for encouraging inefficiencies and practices that were bad for the environment, the new scheme will see farmers paid for producing “public goods”, including clean air and water, and reductions in carbon emissions.

Overhauling the system marks the biggest shift in the way the English countryside is managed in 50 years, and will mean changes to the way every farmer operates.

The vision sees unproductive land redirected to activities like tree planting, peatland restoration and bringing back declining species, while productivity will be enhanced by high-tech and sustainable farming methods elsewhere.

It will also see farmers supported to improve animal welfare including reduced antibiotic use, and the elimination of diseases, and could see them paid for reducing the use of cages or crates, as used in poultry and pig farming, and ending practices such as beak trimming or tail-docking.

“Rather than the prescriptive, top down rules of the EU era, we want to support the choices that farmers and land managers take.

If we work together to get this right, then a decade from now the rest of the world will want to follow our lead,” George Eustice, the environment minister will say on Monday.

But while both farming and environmental groups welcome change, there are widespread concerns that farmers have not been given enough information to make the transition.

Some £1.8bn in direct subsidies, which are given out based on the amount of productive land managed, will be phased out from next year, with cuts of at least 50 per cent by 2024, to reach zero by 2027.

Direct subsidies make up over 90 per cent of the profits of some farms, in particular upland and lowland sheep farming, raising fears over their ability to adapt.

The money will go back into the sector for various environmental and animal welfare schemes, and the Government has promised to maintain the full £2.4bn in annual subsidies for the agricultural sector for the rest of the parliamentary term.

But detail of how much will be paid and for what is yet to be finalised.

“Expecting farmers to run viable, high-cost farm businesses, continue to produce food and increase their environmental delivery, while phasing out existing support and without a complete replacement scheme for almost three years is high risk and a very big ask,” said Minette Batters, the president of the National Farmers’ Union.

The long-awaited policy released on Monday was described by one expert as “underwhelming”.

Calls from farming groups for the changes to be delayed by a year have been turned down by Mr Eustice, who is keen to see progress.

Writing in the Telegraph today the environment minister, who is from a farming family, describes a vision to “rediscover some of the techniques that my Great Grandfather might have deployed, and fuse them with the best precision technology and plant science available to us today.”

Under the plans, farmers who wish to exit the industry will be paid a ‘golden handshake’ lump sum, in order to encourage new blood into farming.

Not all of those newcomers are expected to be traditional farmers, with the new subsidy scheme including payments for maintaining tree plantations or rewilding projects.

Reforming agriculture, which contributes around 10 per cent of the UK’s territorial greenhouse gas emissions, also forms part of the UK’s commitments to reach net zero carbon by 2050, and to enhance the natural world.

The reforms to be laid out today only apply to England, with Scottish and Welsh plans stil in earlier stages of development.