Farm subsidies will have to be earned rather than just handed out in future, UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said in a speech.
Farmers will only get payouts if they agree to protect the environment and enhance rural life, he will say.
The move is part of what he calls his vision for a “green Brexit”.
Farmers’ leaders want the current £3bn total to be spent on the environment, more infrastructure to develop farm businesses, and promoting British food.
The UK government has promised to keep overall payments at the same level until 2022.
The Tenant Farmers’ Association – which represents tenant farmers in England and Wales – has called for the same amount of money to remain after that time.
Under the EU’s current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers are paid based on the amount of land they own.
However, in a speech at WWF’s Living Planet Centre in Woking on Friday, Mr Gove said the current system will be abolished after the UK has left the EU.
He criticised the current system for giving money to some of the UK’s wealthiest landowners, for encouraging wastage, and for not recognising “good environmental practice”.
Mr Gove described Brexit as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reform how we care for our land, our rivers and our seas, how we recast our ambition for our country’s environment, and the planet”.
Critics say under the CAP wealthy UK landowners are given subsidies of up to £3m a year.-BBC
