Michael Gove has suggested that farmers could get subsidies for turning fields back into wildflower meadows, after Brexit.
Around 97% of the UK's wildflower meadows have been destroyed since World War 2, with the loss impacting on the numbers of bees, birds and other wildlife.
Gove made his statement in a speech to the Oxford Farming Conference, and is his clearest indication yet that the current subsidy regime, which rewards the ownership of land, will be replaced by a scheme focused on supporting environmental benefits such as tree planting, wildlife and improving water quality.
Around £2.6bn is spent every year in farming subsidies, and 80% of that is used for the "basic payment scheme" (BPS). Gove explained: "Paying landowners for the amount of agricultural land they have is unjust, inefficient and drives perverse outcomes. It gives the most from the public purse to those who have the most private wealth. After a transition, we will replace BPS with a system of public money for public goods. The principal public good we will invest in is environmental enhancement".
The transition period is believed to be five years.
The aim is for the Government to design a scheme to support almost any landowner in "planting woodland, providing new habitats for wildlife, increasing biodiversity, contributing to improved water quality and returning cultivated land to wildflower meadows or other more natural states".
Gove believes that leaving the EU will allow the UK to improve environmental protections and has pledged green standards will not be weakened.
Green Party MEP Molly Scott Cato has also called for an end to the use of agricultural land as a tax shelter. "Gove must call time on the UK’s largest land owners who are using agricultural land to hide and shelter their wealth. Agricultural land offers generous tax breaks as it is exempt from inheritance tax after two years if it is actively farmed. The fact that the sale of a farming asset can be rolled over into a new business or acquisition offers further tax relief".
