Jeremy Clarkson has revealed how much he earns and how much it costs to run his Oxfordshire farm - and it doesn’t make for great reading.
In his column in The Telegraph, Clarkson bemoaned how bad this year has been for his farm, as well as bellyaching about the usual sorts of things we’ve come to expect from the former Top Gear host along the way.
However, he does make some very valid points that – since he’s got into farming – he will have had to learn the hard way.
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Farming is tough, it is often thankless, and it relies a lot on stuff that you have to predict well in advance, and have absolutely no control whatsoever over.
The weather being chief among those factors.
This year, Clarkson claims that most of his crops either failed tests or failed altogether, meaning that he’s chucked a load of cash at the famous farm with very little to show for it.
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Explaining what has happened, he said: “This year, though, it was noticeably bad. Very bad.
“And what made it worse is that I normally invest maybe £40,000 in seeds, fertiliser and sprays.
“But last year, thanks to the war in Ukraine and the inflation that resulted, I had to invest £110,000.
“And then, having done that, all I could do was hope the weather would be good. Which it wasn’t.
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“In my first year of farming I made a profit of £114.
“That will look like a dream result when I get the figures for this year.”
Clarkson went on to describe 2023 as a ‘disaster’ for farmers, and revealed that he has even considered selling up the farm.
He explained: “I’ve tried farming conventionally and it didn’t work.
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“I’ve tried diversifying and that hasn’t really worked either.
“And I’ve tried with sheep and pigs and cows and that has been a bit of a disaster as well.
“So I arrived at a crossroads. And was not sure which way to turn.
“I could sell the farm and earn far more from the interest than I do from growing bread and beer and vegetable oil.
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“But I like having it and for very good reasons there are no death duties on farmland.
“So my children like me having it too.
“This means I have to hang on to it, but what then? Do nothing?
“That would be heartbreaking. So I have to do something. But what?”
At the end of his article, he reveals that the fertiliser for next year’s farming has already been bought and Kaleb has been put to work, so ‘the farming cycle has begun all over again’.
Hopefully 2024 will be a better year for all the farmers struggling away out there.
Topics: UK News, Celebrity, Jeremy Clarkson, Clarkson's Farm, Money, TV and Film
Tom Wood