The European Parliament has rejected campaigners' demands to tie the majority of farm subsidies to protection of the environment. It now looks inevitable that farmers will continue to receive most of their 50 billion dollars annual subsidies for doing little more than owning land.MEPs agreed that farmers should work for 30 per cent of their payments by operating in a way that benefits wildlife. But they delayed and watered down the changes proposed by the Commission. Environmentalists were demanding that 10 per cent of farmland should be secured for wildlife through subsidies. MEPs decided the figure should start at 3 per cent, stepping gradually to 5 per cent and maybe ultimately 7 per cent.