THE government this week passed its new Agriculture Bill setting out post-Brexit plans for farming.

The new legislation will introduce a new system of payments for ‘public goods’ such as better air and water quality, improved soil health, higher animal welfare standards, public access to countryside and measures to reduce flooding.

This will replace the current subsidy system of Direct Payments, which the government say is ineffective and pays farmers based on the total amount of land farmed. 

These payments are skewed towards the largest landowners and are not linked to any specific public benefits. 

The top 10 per cent of recipients currently receive almost 50 per cent of total payments, while the bottom 20 per cent receive just two per cent.

North Petherton farmer Jeremy Walker said it was all well and good incentivising environmental goods but said farmers ‘cannot be green if they are in the red’.

Mr Walker, 73, of J F Walker & Partners, runs a 500 acre farm with beef cattle, sheep, free range hens and a mix of crops including wheat, barley, oil seed rape, linseed and potatoes.

“I have not read the fine detail just yet but my biggest concern is that there is a lot of emphasis on environmental issues and public money for public goods, but very little content about food production, or support in the future for commercial farmers,” he said.

“It is important this does not impact on viability of commercial farming as you cannot be green when you are in the red.

“We have tried to work so we are not reliant on government aid but in modern farming price volatility is high and can depend on whether Russia or Australia have had a particularly good season for example.”

The government says it will work together with farmers to develop and trial the new approach. 

Under the new system, farmers and land managers who provide the greatest environmental benefits will secure the largest rewards, laying foundations for a ‘Green Brexit’.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “This bill will allow us to reward farmers who protect our environment, leaving the countryside in a cleaner, greener and healthier state for future generations.”

Farmers will be supported over a seven year transition period as we as leave the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West, said: “Greens have led the call for direct payments to be scrapped in favour of ‘public money for public goods’. 

“But it is vital these public goods reflect the needs of the environment and serve the public in terms of health and wellbeing. 

“This has to mean moving farming away from the intensive, chemical-dependent farming that has decimated our wildlife over the past 70 years.”