Subsidies paid to farmers under the 2017 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) look set to be about 4pc higher than last year due to a beneficial currency exchange rate.

Under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, support payments for UK farmers are set in euros and converted to sterling using the average European Central Bank (ECB) exchange rate recorded during the month of September.

Jason Cantrill, from the farming department in the Norwich office of Strutt and Parker said the average rate for this month suggests the final 2017 conversion rate will be around £0.89, compared to £0.85228 for 2016.

'Any increase in the value of payments will be a welcome boost to farmers,' he said. 'While farm profitability has improved over the past 12 months, with a weaker pound leading to commodity price rises, farm incomes for many businesses are still way down on 2011/12 levels and levels of farm borrowing are also at an all-time high.

'At the start of the month it did look as if the confirmed exchange rate would be the highest we have ever seen by some margin.

'However, September has proven to be a changeable month in terms of currency, with hints of interest rises from the Bank of England causing sterling to strengthen against both the euro and the dollar.

'What may be slightly frustrating for farmers is that if BPS had been converted using the average ECB exchange rate for August (£0.91121), payments would have been nearly 7pc higher than last year, which in turn was up 16pc on 2015 levels.

'This would have added another £15/ha to the BPS payment for lowland ground in England, assuming entitlements are worth a similar amount to last year.

'As it stands, farmers are potentially looking at payments being about £10/ha higher in lowland areas and £9/ha higher on upland ground (not moorland).'