CUTTING back on the number of regulations farmers have to adhere to will be the government’s key priority for the agriculture sector as Britain leaves the European Union, Defra Secretary of State Andrea Leadsom, has promised.

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, Ms Leadsom specifically mentioned that her plan would be to end the “three-crop rule”, a greening measure designed to promote biodiversity on larger farms.

Ms Leadsom also said that too much time and money had been wasted on keeping up and complying with EU red tape: “Over the past six years we’ve done everything we can to reduce this burden, but I’m quite sure everyone here can still think of at least one piece of EU regulation you won’t miss.

“Now, as we prepare to leave the EU, I will be looking at scrapping the rules that hold us back and focusing instead on what works best for the UK.”

The bulk of her OFC address focused on what Ms Leadsom argued was a “big potential win for farmers” through a "bonfire" of EU regulations on agriculture.

“No more six foot EU billboards littering the landscape,” she said. “No more existential debates to determine what counts as a bush, a hedge, or a tree. And no more ridiculous, bureaucratic three-crop rule.

“By cutting the red tape that comes out of Brussels, we will free our farmers to grow more, sell more and export more great British food whilst upholding our high standards for plant and animal health and welfare. My priority will be common sense rules that work for the UK.”

Setting out her department's ambition for the food and farming industry post Brexit, she said that a "world of opportunity" awaits British farming – but to make the most of it, the UK would need to take innovation in farming to the next level.

But, having promised to scrap the EU's farming rules, what of the support payments that currently accrue to those that follow them? Ms Leadsom noted that farmers will continue to receive the same level of financial support until 2020, and that Pillar 2 payments signed before the UK formally leaves the EU will be guaranteed for their duration.

But she skirted round the issue of what the actual UK farm support budget will be after 2020: "For too long, a bureaucratic system, which tries to meet the needs of 28 different member states, has held farmers back. But now, we have the chance to design a domestic successor to CAP that works for all of you, rather than the entire European Union.

"I do realise, though, that many of you will be planning much further ahead, and your investment cycles work to much longer timeframes. So it’s vital that we start planning now, for life beyond 2020.

"I want to reassure you that I am committed to supporting British farming in the short and the long term – and I am confident that leaving the EU gives us an unprecedented opportunity to design a system that’s fit for the 21st century."