The Environment Secretary has revealed he will scrap the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in favour of grants for farmers who enhance the environment. 

The current “basic payments” of money per acre under CAP will continue until 2024.

But in a speech to the Oxford Farming Conference today he blasted the Policy as “fundamentally flawed”, adding: “Paying landowners for the amount of agricultural land they have is unjust, inefficient and drives perverse outcomes. 

He he outlined how he wants to see taxpayers' money going in future years to environmental protection, increasing public access to the countryside, and on technology, skills, infrastructure, and supporting rural communities.

He said: “I want to develop a new method of providing financial support for farmers which moves away from subsidies for inefficiency to public money for public goods.

“We will design a scheme accessible to almost any land owner or manager who wishes to enhance the natural environment by 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.”

Mr Gove has promised a “Green Brexit” vowing to transform the agriculture industry and revitalise the countryside.

He continued: "Building on previous countryside stewardship and agri-environment schemes, we will design a scheme accessible to almost any land owner or manager who wishes to enhance the natural environment by 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.

"We will also make additional money available for those who wish to collaborate to secure environmental improvements collectively at landscape scale." 

The Defra Secretary is expected to publish the full proposals later this year.

The plans come after MPs warned post-Brexit trade deals could post the “biggest peacetime threat” to UK’s food security if standards and farmers are not protected. 

They give certainty to farmers, but he will also warn he largest landowners than their payments may be capped.

Government chiefs have yet to decide on the cap but it is likely to be implemented on a sliding scale.

Currently 3,500 farmers receive more than £100,000 each annually.

There are 39 recipients of £1million or over - including prominent Brexiteer Sir James Dyson.

Mr Gove also said the way that financial support had been provided to farmers had been far too bureaucratic, with "near-pointless" box-ticking exercises and multiple inspections, and promised simplified systems in the future. 

At the Oxford Real Farming Conference, Green Party MEP Molly Scott Cato said; “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."