Revealed: billionaires are ‘ultimate beneficiaries’ linked to €3bn of EU farming subsidies

Thousands of small farms forced to close according to analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states

• We didn't realise how hard it is': small farmers in Europe struggle to get by

The European Union doled out generous farming subsidies to more than a dozen billionaires through companies they owned between 2018 and 2021, the Guardian can reveal, including the former Czech prime minister Andrej Babi and the British businessman Sir James Dyson.

Billionaires were ultimate beneficiaries" linked to 3.3bn (2.76bn) of EU farming handouts over the four-year period even as thousands of small farms were forced to close down, according to the analysis of official but opaque data from EU member states.