Truss said that her department was not working on proposals for how UK farmers would be supported outside the EU ahead of a referendum on the country’s membership.

Speaking to press at the Oxford Farming Conference, Truss said Defra had not allocated any of its staff to investigate how a Brexit would affect UK food and farming, or whether an alternative to the direct payment system would be introduced.

“We have teams working on animal health and on flooding, but we don’t have a team in Defra working on a plan B for the CAP,” Truss told journalists.

The minister was pushed for detail on the Defra’s plans after she attempted to dodge a question from UKIP MEP Stewart Agnew in the main conference on how Defra planned to support farmers in the face of a Brexit.

Truss told the conference that the government was working to renegotiate the country’s position in Europe but people would “have to see what we get”.

“There are big benefits of being a member of the EU in terms of access to markets, but there are also costs in terms of bureaucracy of administration and complexity of the CAP,” she said. “It’s for everyone to weigh up.”