According to analysis by the Farmers Journal, Scotland received the highest number of direct payments within the UK on a per-farm basis, for payments made between 16 October 2016 to 15 October 2017.

Scottish recipients typically received £23,847 in direct support, which includes greening – higher than any other country in the UK. This is despite payments per hectare being the lowest in Europe, with an average of £112.30/hectare, due to the very low rates for upland and hill regions of around £26/hectare and £9/hectare. The bigger payments are being put down to larger average farm sizes in Scotland than other countries.

In 2017, 17,990 farms shared direct payments worth a total of just under £377m. England had 85,734 direct payment claimants, who received an average of £19,698 per farm, and 2,221 got more than £100,000.

Scotland had 562 businesses receiving over £100,000 in 2017. The highest direct payment in Scotland was to Frank A Smart & Son Ltd, who received £1,209,397.04 in support, followed by RSPB who took £1,034,469.34. The biggest recipient of pillar-two rural-development money was the National Rural Network, who received £4,473,353.33 for technical assistance.

This was followed by Pelham Olive, who received £823,403.83 for investment in forest area development and improvement of the viability of forests.

The highest direct payment in the UK went to the farm owned by vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson, who received over £2m, and now owns a reported 33,000 acres.

In Wales, 15,431 claimants received an average of £14,472, with 65 getting more than £100,000.

In 2017, Northern Ireland (NI) received CAP money totalling £306.3m, of which £275.7m came in the form of direct payments. In all, 24,230 farm businesses in NI in receipt of direct payments got paid an average of £11,323. The majority of farmers in NI (15,456) received less than £10,000 per farm, and 9,841 get under £5,000. Only a total of 596 get more than £50,000; 69 received direct payments of over £100,000; and just five received payments of over £200,000.

The analysis highlights the large variation in farm size and payment rates across the UK. Earlier this year, Defra in England consulted on future farm policy, floating the idea that payments during a transition period after Brexit could be capped at £100,000, or progressive reductions applied to payments above £25,000. Any money saved would be used to kick-start new agri-environment schemes, to be fully rolled about beyond 2024.

The possibility of a limit to payments has also been proposed by the European Commission for a new CAP beyond 2020. Direct payments to farmers above a threshold €60,000 will be reduced, and capped for payments above €100,000 per farm.

Table

Average payment per claim

Scotland £23,847

England £19,698

Wales £14,472

Northern Ireland £11,323.