The NFU is urging its members to use the agricultural show season to challenge their MPs on how they want to see the Common Agriculture Policy working for English farmers.

The five key areas are:

• Fairness in Europe
• No modulation
• Fairness in the UK
• No distorting subsidies
• No extra burdens on English farmers

“Ministers will take decisions over the coming months on how to implement the next CAP and we have five clear messages for our MPs. We have never shied away from budget cuts at the European level, but cuts should be applied equally and fairly,” said Mr Kendall.

“UK Ministers will take decisions on how to share out the UK pot among the devolved regions of the UK later this year. When I hear that the average Scottish lowland livestock farmer currently receives a farm payment of £20,000 more than his English counterpart, it’s little wonder that English farmers object to CAP reform becoming a means of buying political gain north of the border as part of the Independence campaign.

“We say no to modulation. With rates potentially set to rise from nine per cent to 15 per cent, farmers in England would see the gap in payment levels widening even further.

“We need to say no to distorting subsidies that could force farmers to produce even when they aren’t competitive - and when the market is telling them not to.

“And we need to say no to gold plating the mandatory greening requirements placed on our farmers. English farmers take their responsibility to the environment very seriously but it is unfair to force English farmers to carry out more costly or burdensome environmental conditions than our competitors.

“I ask all farmers meeting with MPs at shows across the country this spring and summer to remind them we need a fair deal, nothing more, but nothing less.”