The former TV presenter started farming during the pandemic
After more than a quarter of a century testing fast and luxury cars and making them extremely popular shows, former Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson has become a farmer. During the pandemic, the 61-year-old presenter moved to his farm in the English picturesque area of the Cotswolds, like many other rich people fleeing restrictive measures in London. But unlike them, he decided to turn the escape into a profitable business venture.
Clarkson has owned the property since 2008, but has entrusted its management to a local farmer. As he says, “I was too busy making shows and writing newspaper columns to deal with it.” However, when he sat down at Diddly Squat Farm, his hands began to itch to do more. “We had to spend £ 250,000 on equipment, but it’s not like spending a quarter of a million on a yacht or a helicopter. This is actually creating a business and I was shocked by what I did “, reveals the presenter. He admits that he had many sleepless nights. When he has to plant his plants, it doesn’t stop raining for six weeks.
“I had seeds in the barn for thousands
pounds and I couldn’t put them in the ground,
no farmer could. It can really keep you awake for days, ”recalls the novice farmer.
Therefore, it is not surprising that he undertakes a rescue option – a farm reality show, in which he is the main character and documents all his work in Diddly Squat Farm. After the show “Clarkson’s Farm” aired on Amazon Prime last June, hundreds of curious viewers began to flock to its land.
The presenter opens his property to visitors. He makes a shop for the products he produces and farm souvenirs. On some weekends, there are so many people willing to come in that the police have to intervene. The local community, which is accustomed to a quiet lifestyle, is also filing complaints against Clarkson’s business. He has to convince them that this is good for everyone who is involved in agriculture. He fights with environmentalists, who smash one of his cars and cover it with three tons of manure. The dissatisfaction is that it can ruin the area by attracting so many tourists.
However, Clarkson does not think so, and recently received very serious support from the National Union of Farmers. The organization declared him the agricultural champion of Great Britain for 2021. According to its representatives, the host has done so much to promote their work in just a few months, as no show has succeeded for years. “I was fed up with television showing agriculture only as someone feeding a bottle of lamb’s milk in a cozy barn, or as a massive intensive activity on the other side of the world. I just wanted to show what really happens on an ordinary farm, ”says Clarkson. He stayed
amazed at how difficult it is
in fact agriculture
and how you have to understand a lot of things to do it well. In addition, government regulations in this business were stifling. “Every time I tried to start something, a government ordinance came up that told me to stop doing it,” he said.
Faced with prolonged rains and record heat, which reduced expected agricultural production, he bought sheep and beehives. He also shows in his show how he takes care of them, of course, with his inherent funny comments and revelations, which made him one of the most popular TV presenters in the world.
“There is no money in sheep breeding. This is a brutal existence. You have to pay someone £ 1.45 to shear a sheep, and the fleece costs only 30 pence. How you run a business where you lose £ 1.15 for each haircut. I don’t think many of us, myself included, have an idea of how our food reaches the table, ”says the budding sheep breeder on his show. He spares nothing to his viewers.
Tells how they are castrated
animals, as it should be
to breed sheep alone,
because of coronavirus restrictions he could not count on help. He also shows how he can’t drive his new tractor, even though he managed to start all sorts of vehicles in the 1930s, in which he hosts car shows.
He faces the challenges with his girlfriend Lisa Hogan, who is 12 years younger than him, but also without any experience in agriculture, as she is an actress. However, the two come up with playful advertisements for the products they offer in their farm shop, which is managed by Lisa. Its opening was announced on the Internet: “Potatoes grow really well on our farm and we accidentally produced 40 tons. We also sell apple juice, “bee juice”, known as honey after ordinary people, gin, kitchen towels and “cow juice” – in other words, milk.
“People seem to like milk and eggs, and it’s good for local farmers to offer their produce without going through an intermediary or a supermarket,” he said. He constantly called on the British to eat British-made things, pointing out that currently only 60% of the island’s food is locally produced, up from 80% in the 1980s.
In recent months, Clarkson has been growing greenhouses to grow peppers and tomatoes. He also bought pigs. They learn with Lisa how to artificially inseminate animals. “You have to put your hand in the cow’s ass, I don’t know why, to put the semen in her vagina. “Bull semen is phenomenally expensive, but Lisa wants to try that, too,” the host told the Sun.
Their farm covers 4,000 decares. It grows barley, wheat and rapeseed. “I could not have chosen a worse time to start agricultural work.
We had a pandemic and five separate ones
meteorological records,
which made everything quite difficult, but from a personal point of view I was very lucky. Lisa and I were not stuck in a small apartment, but we had a whole farm and we could do everything necessary for its development “, says the host. Even after 2 years of work, he continues to define himself as an intern in agriculture. And he still faces disregard for farming. “You usually hear about them poisoning the soil and being cruel to animals, and that’s far from the truth. “Farmers are really doing everything possible to feed the nation in this difficult time and to take care of the development of the countryside,” said Clarkson. Therefore, he is determined to continue his reality, getting into more and more serious problems in the industry.
Among them is the lack of support for beginners in agriculture who do not have their own funding. He cites the example of his aide, Caleb Cooper, who was literally driven from the land he cultivated for “neglect of the agricultural industry by the government.” Clarkson compares what is happening to “ethnic cleansing.” “Caleb is fantastic, but I’m worried about how he will be able to afford his own farm again,” says the host.
Another hot topic for him is the threat of cheap imported meat after Britain signed free trade agreements with Canada and Australia. “We are told that we must follow strict production rules, but Australian farmers must not adhere to them in order to import into the UK. The cards dealt in this game are against British farmers. I know everyone wants cheap food, but British farmers can really produce a lot of quality food if the government loosens its grip a little. Eating meat from grass-fed animals is a very good thing. For example, my cows walk around, graze and live a very happy life, ”said Jeremy Clarkson, this year’s farmer. And he is already thinking of opening a cafe with 60 seats on the farm, where he will offer his own production of burgers.
– .
