Continued Government pressure to ensure subsidy cash goes to the active farmer is likely to be a key part of future schemes.

This week, we saw that while farmers might be paying a little less for grass lets, very few get their hands on the entitlements when letting short-term land.

The business which owns the livestock and takes the bigger risk should get the support money.

But there is difficulty in defining an active farmer and the inspection regime to prove it is likely to be burdensome.

Outside the EU, we should have the ability to claim on all the land a farmer can prove they are farming, regardless if they have entitlements or not

This means that more often than not our area-based system rewards land owners. The land owner is doing nothing wrong, but it’s the pitfalls of an area-based system compared with the previous headage scheme or deficiency payments.

Outside the EU, we should have the ability to claim on all the land a farmer can prove they are farming, regardless if they have entitlements or not.

This would mean that many landlords would find it easier to allow the tenant to claim the land (which they most likely are doing on a home farm already.) This wouldn’t solve the issue overnight, but would start to move landlords who don’t farm in their own right out of the system.

The union is proposing moving away from area-based systems towards more action-based measures, which should also make it easier for public money to go to producers rather than asset owners.