Subsidies will no longer be decided solely on volume

It follows EU reforms meant to break the link between subsidies and the volume of production.

Part of the �2bn annual budget is expected to be by volume but part of it on a flat-rate, per-acre basis.

Ministers believe this would encourage diversity and green farming - but some farmers say they could be ruined.

EU farm ministers agreed last year on the reforms of the widely-criticised Common Agricultural Policy.

That paid subsidies to farmers according to how much food they produced, but it was criticised for distorting trade and harming the countryside.

It's going to mean less stock kept on farms... less stocks go to the slaughter houses, less carcasses go to the cutting plant, which means less jobs, less English meat on the shelves Livestock farmer Dave Morgan

From next year, farmers will start getting a single flat-rate payment instead - but governments can introduce this gradually if they want.

Wales has chosen to give subsidies entirely as before, and Scotland is likely to do the same.

But Northern Ireland has chosen a "hybrid" system and England is likely to follow suit.

The flat-rate part of the scheme would mean some sectors which were previously unsubsidised, like poultry or vegetable farming, would receive payouts.

These would be given on the basis that certain environmental conditions were met.

Fruit farmer David Snell, from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, told BBC News he supported the scheme - which would give him a subsidy for the first time and encourage him to greener farming.

'Worse off'

But livestock farmer Dave Morgan said he depends on a six-figure annual subsidy cheque, and without it he and many others could go out of business.

This, in turn, would be bad for the public, he said.

Governments will be concerned not to move too far away from each other and not too far away, I'm afraid, from where we have been Professor Ken Thompson, Aberdeen University

"It's going to mean less stock kept on farms, it's going to mean less stocks go to the slaughter houses, less carcasses go to the cutting plant, which means less jobs, less English meat on the shelves for the public to buy."

BBC Radio 4's Farming Today's Sarah Falkingham said that under a wholly flat-rate system, hill farms would come out better, as would fruit and vegetable farms - but cereal farms, mixed farms and lowland livestock farms would lose out.

But Professor Ken Thompson, from the land economy department of Aberdeen University, said farmers should not be too worried.

"Governments will be concerned not to move too far away from each other and not too far away, I'm afraid, from where we have been," he said.