People will be able to keep a check on farmers, including the Queen and her private Sandringham estate, in order to establish their “green” ratings.

The amount of money paid to each farmer for looking after the landscape and wildlife is also to be made public for the first time. The information is to be released today on the website of Natural England, the Government’s landscape adviser.

Users will be able to type in the name of a village, parish or postcode and find out which farmers in the area have signed up to environmental stewardship schemes and the cash that they receive.

The website is to be developed to give details of environmental works agreed by the farmer with the agency that polices the green payment schemes. There may also be a feedback section where people can report on what farmers are doing.

The move was disclosed by Sir Martin Doughty, chairman of Natural England, in an interview with The Times.

Some farmers will detest this intrusion but others will welcome the opportunity to demonstrate their green credentials through, for example, restoring traditional hedgerows or encouraging birdlife.

It is also certain to put pressure on the Rural Payment Agency to be more transparent over what money is paid to farmers under the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and to extend this openness to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Sir Martin says that taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent in the countryside.

About £1.7 billion is paid to English farmers under the CAP, the bulk of it in farm support. About £320 million is allocated for green farming schemes and is paid to about 32,000 farmers, roughly a third of the total.

In England there are 9,266 hectares (22,900 acres) of agricultural land suitable for environmental programmes, but so far only 4,670 hectares are included in green schemes. Natural England hopes to see this figure increase by 10 per cent by the end of the year.

Sir Martin said: “There is still a lot of work to do and to start with we will just publish the raw material. But I hope eventually that once you have found the farm you are interested in, you will be able to zoom in on the holding and see what the farmer is doing for his money.

“If there are footpaths on the land people might even go for a walk to see the level of stewardship. I think it will be helpful for farmers to reconnect with their local community and we hope the farmers will be proud and will wish to talk up their achievements. But I think the public ought to know where their taxes are going.”

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “Farmers should be proud of what they are doing for the environment. This will give a positive message about farming.”

He gave a warning, however, that people should not think that they could go wandering over every farm. “There will be areas with public access but we can’t have people walking on field margins which are there to benefit wildlife,” he said. “I already have a significant problem with people walking their dogs on field margins, and dogs can be pests to wildlife.”

Jack Thurston, co-founder of the website, www.farmsubsidy.org which campaigns for greater openness on the money paid under the CAP, supported the idea of community oversight. “It will praise the farmers who are doing a great job and shame those on the make,” he said.