Jeremy Clarkson’s profit from first year of farming highlights cold reality of the business

Charlie Herbert

Diddly Squat Farm really lived up to its name

Jeremy Clarkson has returned for the second series of his farming adventure, but as funny as the show can sometimes be, it’s important to remember the harsh reality it highlights.

Throughout the first series, viewers loved the often-hapless efforts of Jeremy as he ventured into the world of farm – with plenty of help from his right-hand man Kaleb Cooper.

The show has also been praised for not hiding away from just how brutal and unforgiving the farming industry is though.

Involving long hours of extremely hard work and labour, many farmers don’t even end up making much money come the end of the year.

Nothing highlighted this more than the profit Jeremy made come the end of his first year on the 1,000 acre farm.

In the final episode of the first series, he sat down to tot up the numbers, and discovered he had made a grand total of just £144 profit.

And it’s safe to say that if it hadn’t been for his celebrity status and the media attention Diddly Squat farm received thanks to its owner’s name, Jeremy would have been nowhere near any sort of profit.

With just a few tweets, he was able to get large crowds to come to his farm shop and buy produce, and his farm received a number of subsidies to help keep it financially viable.

Although there were certainly several areas he could have easily saved money (we’re looking at you Lamborghini tractor) and he did have to spend large amounts on start up costs, it was still a brutal reminder of just how difficult the farming industry is.

After working out his measly profit, the Grand Tour host was aghast, and wondered how farmers that “don’t have Amazon film crews following them around” were going to survive once subsidies were reduced.

Land agent Charlie Ireland simply told him the harsh truth that there will probably be “30 percent less farmers.”

The Observer reports that, on average, British farmers saw their government subsidies cut by 22 percent last year, with a further 36 percent drop expected in 2023.

Farmer and conservationist Jake Fiennes said there was “an underspend of about £100 million” in the sector.

Since filming Clarkson’s Farm, Jeremy has been vocal in calling for more help for farmers and highlighting just how important the industry is to this country.

In October 2021, he was given the ‘flying the flag for British agriculture’ award at the British Farming Awards.

During his acceptance speech he praised Kaleb, before voicing his anger at the Tory government, telling the crowd: “”I just hope and pray we’re all still here in ten years time once this f**king government has c**ked up absolutely everything.”

He continued: “We are doing a second series and we’re not going to take no nonsense lying down, I can assure you of that, so let’s just go f**k them up the a**, eh? Thanks everybody.”

⚠️ Bad language warning ⚠️

Jeremy Clarkson gives his views on this Govt and what they’re doing to farming 🚜 pic.twitter.com/PCEPr2qyC6

— Save British Farming 🇬🇧 (@SaveBritishFood) October 23, 2021