Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference on Wednesday 4 January, UK farming minister George Eustice said that there will be no direct payments for British farmers after the UK leaves the EU.

He said that, instead, farmers will receive support payments that are linked to environmental services.

“We need to escape this mantra of pillar I or pillar II, which are EU definitions and don’t mean anything in the real world," he said. "We will have a different system where we support agriculture to become more profitable and vibrant and make payments for environmental services. We want to target our support to genuine farm enterprises.

“So we will reward farmers for the services they offer,” Eustice continued. “The notion of subsidies is not helpful and if subsidies equals direct payments then, yes, we would like to move away from that. But it doesn’t mean moving away from supporting agriculture – it just means supporting agriculture in a better way.”

Eustice added that throwing subsidies into a system means it can come out all over the place: “It comes out in increased rents or increased cost of farm inputs. I have a problem with that.”

By cutting the red tape from Brussels, we will free our farmers to sell more

Also speaking at the conference, Andrea Leadsom, DEFRA secretary of state, said that direct payments (pillar I) would be guaranteed for UK farmers up until the end of the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2020. She added that pillar II payments signed before the UK leaves the EU will be available for farmers for the lifetime of the schemes.

A member of the panel added that even if the UK was to remain in the EU, there is no guarantee as to the shape of the next CAP post-2020. Already there are calls within some political circles to drop direct payments for EU farmers as a whole to improve profitability in the sector and to make payments only for services provided, such as those under the Rural Development Programme.

No more red tape

Leadsom, who campaigned for a leave vote before the Brexit referendum, added that too much time and money has been wasted on keeping up with EU red tape.

“We have tried to reduce this burden over the last six years but I’m sure everyone can think of a bureaucratic rule they won’t miss,” she said.

“Now as we prepare to leave I will be looking at scrapping the bureaucratic rules that hold us back and look at what works best for British farmers. There will be no more existential debates on what constitutes a hedge, bush or tree. No more ridiculous bureaucratic three crop rule.

“By cutting the red tape from Brussels, we will free our farmers to sell more and grow more while upholding standards for animal welfare, quality and traceability.”

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