A new pilot scheme to encourage "green" agriculture has been warmly received by farmers.

The Entry Level Scheme (ELS), which pays farmers to create sustainable projects to protect the countryside, had 250 applicants, exceeding the government target for take-up by 50.

Ministers said they were pleased by the warm reception for the project, which they see as a key plank in their drive for sustainable farming and food.

The environment department announced that £500 million will be ploughed into "agri-environment schemes" in a bid to meet the recommendations of the Curry Commission, which argued that farming needed to do more to encourage a sustainable countryside.

ELS will see farmers rewarded for putting environmental issues at the heart of farming policy. To receive funding landowners must identify key environmental features of their land and choose from a list of measures on how to protect it.

Speaking about the scheme, to be launched in four separate areas, food and farming minister Lord Whitty said that take-up for the pilots had been "very encouraging".

"These pilots will be important in shaping future agri-environment schemes," he said.

"Farmers play a critical role in creating and maintaining a healthy countryside, and the more accessible and effective we can make the support schemes the greater the benefits will be for everyone."

"The pilots will allow us to test the scheme on a range of real farms, of different types and sizes."