Former Prime Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about his struggles at Diddly Squat Farm as he branches out into new produce
Jeremy Clarkson has deserted ‘actual farming’ this 12 months (Picture: Getty)
Jeremy Clarkson says he has been compelled to desert any “actual farming” due to rising prices. The 66-year-old claims it’s “unattainable” to make any cash in agriculture in the intervening time.
It comes as he has been compelled to diversify the way in which he brings in funds at his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire. Not too long ago the previous Prime Gear star has turned his consideration to rabbit breeding in a bid to discover a new stream of revenue. He says sky-rocketing costs for fertiliser and crimson diesel, utilized in tractors and equipment, have created a dire scenario for farmers throughout the nation.
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Clarkson’s Farm is returning for a fifth sequence (Picture: Getty)
Jeremy explains he has been decreased to “market gardening” as he tries to earn one thing from the loss-making farm. Chatting with the Sunday Occasions, he stated: “Truthfully, we’re not doing any actual farming this 12 months.
“There’s rabbits and market gardening — mainly rising herbs for the farm store — and that’s it. There’s no level. It’s unattainable to generate profits.”
Jeremy says the scenario will get even worse for farmers subsequent 12 months when the UK will get a carbon tax on fertiliser. He says the one crop on his farm to have made any cash this 12 months is oil seed rape, explaining that’s “as a result of it’s an oil product”.
Yorkshireman Jeremy says he has all the time had a “love of rural life”. However his pivot in the direction of farming actually took off in 2019, when the tenant at the-then Curdle Hill Farm retired.
Jeremy had initially purchased the 1,000 acre plot, which included the farm, in 2008. Confronted with not having somebody to run the farm, Jeremy determined to roll up his sleeves and get caught in.
Jeremy stated it was ‘unattainable’ to farm this 12 months (Picture: Getty)
His journey was documented on Amazon Prime Video’s hit sequence Clarkson’s Farm. The present was initially commissioned on a shoestring finances, however is now making ready for the launch of its fifth sequence.
The present grew to become an nearly prompt success when it was first launched in 2021, with its stars resembling farmhand Kaleb Cooper, Jeremy’s girlfriend Lisa Hogan, and land agent Charlie Eire all turning into well-known faces in their very own proper. Whereas Amazon doesn’t launch viewing figures, reviews counsel it was streamed 4.3 million instances.
There has nonetheless been a noticeable lack of publicity forward of the sequence. Amazon has even hinted that one thing may have occurred that might make a media circus unseemly.
Jeremy himself nonetheless remained coy when requested by The Sunday Occasions. He defined “you’ll see” what occurs, including: “We’re not doing any press on it.”
The sequence will nonetheless proceed to comply with Jeremy as he juggles operating each the farm and The Farmer’s Canine, which he purchases as a rundown pub in Oxfordshire.
He believes enterprise on the pub is prospering due to his “difficult” pledge to solely serve British produce. It was a pledge that led him to breeding rabbits, after a high-end butcher within the West Midlands informed him they supply all of their produce from Britain, besides rabbit meat, which they introduced in from France. It prompted Jeremy to determine to farm rabbits for his or her meat.
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