Sandringham, England
IT IS A club that includes some of the world's richest people. There are dukes, sheikhs, flamboyant entrepreneurs - even Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family.
What they have in common besides ownership of some of Britain's finest estates - adorned with stately homes, manicured gardens and, sometimes, racing stables - is their legal status as farmers, which means they are on the dole for European Union farm subsidies.
The queen's idyllic 8,000-hectare estate at Sandringham is among the huge holdings supported by the annual payouts, receiving more than US$675,000 in European farm subsidies last year (down from US$975,000 the year before).
But that could be about...