EU officials had sought to cut the rate of compensation from 100% to 75% as part of a review of the rules surrounding national state aids. They had also planned to prevent any payments unless a farmer had lost at least 30% of his production, and restrict compensation to small- and medium-sized businesses.

But a concerted lobbying campaign by the main UK farming unions and DEFRA in Brussels has forced a rethink. A new proposal was presented to a member- state working group this week with all the restrictions removed.

"We have been working on this for about five months," said assistant director of the NFU's office in Brussels David Hemingway.

"No one else seemed to have picked up on it. Other member states were more interested in things like funding for promotion rather than disease compensation. We had to fire up other farm organisations and MEPs to fight this one."

Source: FWi