Farmers in Sussex were handed almost £20,000 each in subsidies last year for producing food, much of which will never be eaten.

The region's farmers received £48 million under the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) last year.

According to government statistics, the payout was split between 2,615 farmers, making the average payout £18,355 per farm.

Farmers across the UK were paid £1.6 billion for the quantity of the goods they produced - even if there was not sufficient public demand for its consumption.

This is the final year of the huge subsidies funded by EU taxpayers and heavily criticised for encouraging over-production of goods such as butter and wine.

In past years, the payments have led to bad publicity about "wine lakes" and "butter mountains".

From next year, they will no longer be linked to production levels.

A new scheme would be based on a flat-rate payment per hectare, according to Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett. She said it was a "decisive and irreversible shift", which offered huge opportunities to the farming industry.

Ending the link to production levels would free farmers to produce what the market wanted and benefit the environment.

Different rates would apply to land in "severely disadvantaged" and "less favoured" areas, Mrs Beckett said.

EU farm ministers agreed the reforms last year after years of bitter debate.

Isobel Bretherton, spokeswoman for the National Farmers' Union, said: "We welcome the ending of the CAP as it means farmers will be free to produce in accordance with demand.

"Some larger farms, especially in East Anglia, will receive thousands of pounds while small holdings in Sussex will receive far less.

"You cannot put an average figure on the payout."