Green Alliance and the National Trust have set out proposals for how a market-based mechanism for agricultural subsidies could deliver a host of environmental benefits.

According to the think tank and the charity, new market-based model for driving the adoption of greener farming practices could help to direct millions of pounds towards more environmentally friendly agricultural methods and interventions.

The proposals lay out how a new series of Natural Infrastructure Schemes could see farmers working together to sell ecosystem services, such as flood protection, to multi-buyer groups of public and private players who would benefit from the resulting services.

The groups argue the proposals – which form part of an on-going debate about how the UK should organise agricultural subsidies post-Brexit – could in effect create a new market for sustainable land management, delivering multiple environmental benefits compared to the current approach of distributing subsidies based largely on land ownership.