Lairds and companies could be forced to sell off swathes of their land after it emerged that a Scottish Government commission is examining imposing a legally-enforced limit on how many acres they can own.

The Scottish Land Commission, which has been charged by Nicola Sturgeon with directing her radical land reform agenda, is seeking to recruit academics and consultants to research how ownership limits work abroad.

According to the job advert, the commission wants those who fill the posts to examine what steps other countries have taken “to limit who can own land and / or how much land any single individual or entity is permitted to own.”

The £20,000 research project is the clearest indication yet that Ms Sturgeon is planning to embark on an extreme land reform programme, despite warnings she risks devastating the rural economy.

Unveiling her legislative programme earlier this month, the First Minister promised to approve the commission’s first strategic plan, which she said would “outline a programme of research to inform options for future change.”

But Scottish Land & Estates, which represents Scotland’s landowners, has previously warned that breaking up large estates risks creating units that are too small to be economically sustainable.