Q&A highlights with cast of Clarkson’s Farm season 3
25th April 2024
Farmers Guide director Greg Goulding was one of the few journalists invited to the exclusive launch of Clarkson’s Farm season 3 at Diddly Squat Farm. Both Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper were on-hand to answer hard-hitting questions about the next series.
We arrived promptly at Diddly Squat Farm Shop ready for the launch of Clarkson’s Farm Season 3, and were met with the infamous silver Lamborghini R8 tractor. Behind this was a fleet of new Land Rover Defenders as well as Jeremy Clarkson’s old Range Rover and Kaleb Cooper’s farm truck.
On the other side of the shop is the old lambing barn, which has since been turned into an open area with a food trailer and bar selling Hawkstone lager and Kaleb’s cider.
Inside the barn were hay bales set out with Amazon branded blankets, facing a rustic but neat wooden wall with Clarkson’s Farm Series 3 in large writing – we were in the right place.
Soon it was time for the main event, and Jeremy Clarkson was welcomed on stage. As there’s lots we can’t talk about due to embargoes (look out for our episode review tomorrow), the Q&A was being hosted by a presenter and the cast were under instruction not to give too much away and ruin the enjoyment for viewers.
It started with Jeremy being asked about the theme…
Q: In season one it was the origin, in season two, it was you against the man. What is the theme for season three?
Jeremy: “It’s still me against the man, but the man this time isn’t West Oxfordshire District Council, it’s Kaleb. Because I had this idea. The farm is 1000 acres, but we only farm 500 acres. And 500 acres is wildflower meadows, woods, and streams, and I wondered if we could make any money by farming bits of the farm that aren’t farmed.
“I had a competition with Kaleb, you do your farming, you do your wheat, barley and OSR, and I’ll do little bits and bobs in the woods and meadows and see what I could do. And I lost. But what we really did it for was to highlight the enormous costs farms face just to get food out of the ground. Ordinarily on a farm like this you would need £40,000 for things like seed, fertiliser, slug pellets, diesel, and various other things you need to grow food.
“Last year it was £108,000. It’s a bit like if you go to a casino and it’s a £2 minimum bet, you can have fun with your mates, but if they make it a £500 minimum bet, you’re not going to do it, it’s too risky. And farming is getting to that point where it’s too risky. If I invest £108,000 and the weather is bad, I’ve lost the lot. And that’s why we did it, and I hope it works well. I hope farmers enjoy it anyway.”
Farmers take all the risk
Jeremy was keen to show that he was on the side of farmers, and excused himself for getting a little too technical. But he had done some figures :
“We get 25p for a kilo of wheat that we produce, and a kilo is enough to make one loaf of bread. So, we are getting 25p, and you’re paying £1.40 in the supermarket. What’s happening there? We are taking the risk, we are planting the seed, fertilising it, spending a fortune, working through the night, praying it makes milling quality otherwise it’s just animal feed.
“We have that risk and we get 25p. Supermarkets are charging £1.40. Making flour is easy, it’s just grinding it up. And making bread; it’s fun and easy, they make shows about it. David Cameron has a break oven. People can make that for nothing. So why are they charging £1.40 when the risk is on us. It’s nuts!”
“Don’t be fooled by me hoovering blackberries”
Jeremy also explained, “While I love the trailer for season three, it does slightly give the impression it has become hobby farming which we have tried to avoid, and Kaleb is pathological that we’re not ‘look at this little lamb we’re reared on fresh straw and look at these little hens aren’t they pretty’ he’s very keen that we show proper farming, and we do show proper farming. So don’t be fooled into thinking because the trailer shows me hoovering blackberries out of a hedge.”
Kaleb added, “That’s something I am never going to forget. I was driving up the drive at 7am and Jeremy was hoovering the hedge. I didn’t even stop, I haven’t got the energy for this.”
Jeremy then said the vast majority of the show is farming – big farming. Not 20 acres or a petting zoo.
Kaleb added, “You still have the goats, we should eat those.”
Watch Q&A highlights from the day :
See how the day unfolded in our hour-by-hour article.
The first four episodes of Clarkson’s Farm are out on Amazon Prime from 3rd May, with the following four episodes released a week later on 10th May.
Our Farmers Guide review of the first episodes is now live.
