To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assumptions his Department has used on the level of rents for agricultural land as Basic Payment Scheme payments are phased out.

Rent prices could fall for tenant farmers as Direct Payments are removed. There is evidence that Direct Payments inflate farm rent prices, meaning some of the payment supports the income of the landowner, not the tenant farmer.

Academic evidence suggests that an average of 20 to 25 cents per euro paid to tenants across the EU goes to the landlord, though the land market conditions in England give reason to believe the figure could be different here. A combination of high demand for farmland, varied rental agreements and re-directed Direct Payment spend means that any fall in rents is difficult to estimate with certainty. Additionally, it's likely there would be large regional and local variations linked to considerable differences in demand and supply of land across the country.