Global News: Unlikely celebrity hero highlights perils of British agriculture
While the business of farming is an intense and challenging endeavour, preconceptions of a celebrity fronting a television show about his attempts at farming could have been a sore point among farmers and landowners
 |
|
Jeremy Clarkson, right, with his loyal sidekick Kaleb Cooper
|
Like him or loathe him, TV motormouth Jeremy Clarkson has gained immense praise for raising awareness of the difficulties UK farmers face on a daily basis.
The former Top Gear presenter runs his own 1000-acre arable and livestock farm, named Diddly Squat Farm, in Oxfordshire, England, but finds it difficult to adhere to regulations set by the government and his local parish council.
Following the success of Season 1 of Clarkson’s Farm, which aired worldwide on Amazon Prime TV, a second series was commissioned and has recently finished airing.
Clarkson bought the farm back in 2008 when it was run by a villager but, when he retired in 2019, the TV presenter decided to see if he could run it himself.
The unlikely hero, Clarkson is reaming in huge praise for his innocent attempts to be a ‘proper’ farmer, even though he freely admits to being ‘totally out of his depth.’
Farmers in the UK, as well as from around the world, reckon Clarkson is the best advocate for agriculture since sliced bread.
His daily struggles with Government red tape and that with battling bad weather, disease, and the ‘locals’ resonates with other farmers.
Season 2 sees Clarkson pick up the gloves to battle the local bureaucratic West Oxfordshire District Council once more, which continues to turn down every single planning application submitted by the farm.
Clarkson already runs the popular Diddly Squat Farm Shop on his land near the village of Chadlington, which continues to get the locals’ backs up.
As the shop has proved so popular, there has been a deluge of parking issues, as visitors park on the small country road causing traffic mayhem.
Brexit means farmers will lose all their subsidies gained from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. Upon realising this, Jeremy knows he needs some extra income if his farm is to become profitable.
In Season 2, Jeremy has the brainwave of converting an existing lambing shed, situated beside the farm shop, into a restaurant.
You would think this idea would be a welcome boost for tourism in the local area and bring some much-needed income to local farmers and villagers.
However, the overzealous local planning division had other ideas, which started another battle between them and Clarkson.
As it turned out, the planners turned down the application for the new restaurant as well as an application for a new car park and a farm track.
Not impressed by the constant naysayers, Jeremy discovered a loop in the planning regulations that allowed him to open up a restaurant in another shed, further inwards on the farm, which didn’t go down well with the planners.
In another venture to further boost his income, Jeremy decided – having failed miserably with a flock of sheep – to bring in some cattle to rare for beef to be served in his restaurant.
After spending a few thousand pounds on some Beef Shorthorn cattle, Jeremy welcomed them to his farm only to set off on a voyage of discovery about tuberculosis, the scourge of the livestock industry in the UK.
 |
|
Using his celebrity status, Jeremy Clarkson has proven to be a huge advocate for farming in the UK and further afield
|
Tensions were high when Jeremy found a dead badger near his farm that was full of TB and made him sweat when he had an imminent test on his own herd. As it turned out, his herd was free from the dreaded disease, but he was overcome with emotion after listening to stories from his farming neighbours who weren’t so lucky.
Season 2 welcomes the return of the much-likeable characters such as Jeremy’s sidekick Kaleb Cooper as well as the man with the thick country accent Gerald. Cheerful Charlie, as Jeremy likes to call him, also returns to Season 2 to advise Jeremy on his farming adventures. Jeremy’s girlfriend Lisa also features in Season 2 to try and keep Clarkson on the right track.
There are some hilarious, sometimes worrying moments, when Jeremy is at the wheel of his huge Lamborghini tractor, obviously still trying to learn its controls and capabilities.
Both seasons of Clarkson’s Farm have breathed fresh air into the world of farming in the UK. Undoubtedly, they have highlighted the realities farmers face every single day and the battles they must try to win in order to produce food for the population.
After binge-watching all the episodes in Season 2 in one weekend, and after reading numerous reports that Amazon Prime was considering cancelling Clarkson’s Farm, viewers will be pleased to know that Season 3 is also in the making.
We can only wait with bated breath to see which scuffles and adventures Jeremy and his sidekicks will embark on in the next series.
Keep up to date in the industry by signing up to Farm Trader's free newsletter or liking us on Facebook
.jpg)
