An East Anglian landowners' leader says helping farms plan for the looming post-Brexit loss of subsidies is her top priority when she returns from maternity leave.

Cath Crowther said she is excited to return to her role as regional director for the Country Land and Business Association in the East of England (CLA East) from August 2, following the birth of her daughter Lily.

But it is a different landscape to the one she stepped back from last September - after an eventful 10 months which has seen a last-minute Brexit deal, weather extremes, the end of the Covid lockdown and major concerns over the impact of new global trade agreements.

A key concern is the phasing out of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) which distributes EU subsidies, to be replaced with a new system of green incentives called the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMS), still under development.

Mrs Crowther said her first priorities are supporting CLA members through that transition, and identifying post-lockdown opportunities for farmers to meet up and share knowledge.

"The main priority is probably the transition away from BPS," she said. "Our members have got the biggest change for many, many decades on the horizon, and we need to provide that advice, guidance and support - so it is great that we are finally able to hold face-to-face meetings.

"There is still a lot of uncertainty on ELMS and payment rates, but we need our members to start preparing for that period. One of things CLA has excelled at through Covid times is providing information to members, and our webinars have been extremely popular. I think we will still do that, but getting out and about is extremely important, especially in our industry.

"I love going out and talking to members and feeling I can make a difference. I am really looking forward to being able to get back out and about and speaking to people about what is impacting them day to day, and how we can help.

Mrs Crowther said she was frustrated - but not surprised - that farmers are still awaiting full details and payment rates for the ELMS scheme while the BPS revenue is being withdrawn. But she said there are other potential green revenue streams they could be exploring now, such as selling biodiversity or carbon offset credits.

"There is a lot of discussion about 'public money for public goods' through ELMS and other schemes, but also I really want to highlight the other opportunities that landowners and rural businesses have, whether through the carbon market, natural capital, biodiversity net gain and other diversifications," she said.

"Natural capital is being talked about a lot, but many people are unable to get anything out of it yet. So the CLA is doing a lot of work to get members more information, looking at who is out there who can do natural capital audits, and how our members can generate income from that side."

Another major talking point in recent months has been the new free trade deal with Australia, which has prompted concern that East Anglia's farmers could be undermined by imports of cheap food produced to lower standards than are required here.

"Looking at trade deals, that is something else on the policy side that we need to continue to lobby on, to ensure our members are not disadvantaged because of the high quality they provide," said Mrs Crowther.

"We must ensure high animal welfare and environmental standards in the UK are protected. Ne need to be pushing other countries to do better. The UK leads the world in so many ways in the way we produce food, so we need to make sure future deals do not undercut what British farmers are doing."

While there have been many changes in the last ten months, Mrs Crowther said there are also many familiar countryside issues to tackle on her return, such as water availability, rural crimes like hare coursing and fly-tipping, and poor digital connectivity.