DEPaRTMENT for Environment Food and Rural affairs Secretary Caroline Spelman told delegates at the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday that European farmers should become less reliant on direct farming subsidies and earn more for their environmental efforts and the work they do to enhance the countryside. Ms Spelman s speech was a clear indication of her intended approach to the current negotiations on the new Common agricultural Policy (CaP) to be in place from 2014, which she believes needs to be fundamentally different. Ms Spelman said: The CaP continues to distort trade by maintaining high EU prices. This gives rise to high import tariffs and the use of export subsidies to clear market surpluses all of which undercuts production in developing countries. This is morally wrong. To continue as we are threatens to snuff out the transition we need towards a market that can sustain