“Farmers are problem solvers” – Kaleb Cooper discusses the challenges facing farmers

Asked if he can offer any insights into the next series of hit TV show Clarkson’s Farm, Kaleb Cooper’s response is simply: “weather”.

Weather conditions over the past two years have put huge pressure on farmers, and the challenges are getting harder to overcome, noted the contractor and farm manager for Jeremy Clarkson’s farm, Diddly Squat. 

But despite heavy rainfall last winter carrying on into spring, Kaleb feels harvest 2023 was actually more difficult than 2024, as the weather was more variable this year, offering windows to work in. 

As conditions become more challenging, farmers are beginning to change the way they do things, with more early drilling, he added. Last year, he had drilled everything by early October and the same is true this year.

“I think last year taught people to go early. We wanted to go early and worry about the blackgrass another time.

“Yes, the blackgrass was bad, but at least we got the stuff in the ground and established a root on it.”

Oilseed rape is also often going in later now, with one of Kaleb’s customers drilling it at the end of September, but it’s doing perfectly fine, he added.

“I’ve lost a lot of work”

For Kaleb, high machinery costs and loss of contracting work as a result of environmental schemes, present additional challenges.

Whilst there are good opportunities in the Sustainable Farming Incentive for farmers, they have to spend more money to complete the actions required to get the payment, he noted.

The shift in government policy towards public money for environmental goods is also affecting other businesses in the industry. 

“As a young farmer, I came into this industry wanting to grow as much corn and produce as much food as possible to feed this nation.

“Now, as a young agricultural contractor, I’ve got a good business going, but a lot of my customers are going Kaleb, we don’t need you next year because we’ve actually just planted this wild bird mix. And I’ve lost a lot of work.”

But he stressed: “I don’t blame [the farmers] for taking it because let’s face it, for the last 60 years, they’ve just been haggled down in terms of everything they do, but at the same time, it’s affecting people down the industry I find.

“There’s four machinery dealers that I know of have gone bust because the kit’s not moving. All it’s doing is just topping and so on.”

Commenting on food security concerns, he added: “If you’ve got a really good productive bit of land, why don’t you just put some food in there and actually feed the nation instead of importing cheap food?”

Talking through problems

Acknowledging the huge stresses on farmers, he said: “Of course it’s mentally straining. There’s days that I just go, I don’t know if I can do this anymore. You know, everything’s getting harder.”

But he finds a good coping strategy is helping others and he would like to see farmers working together more rather than competing on social media.

“I’d rather you be OK than me, if that makes sense. I think I probably that’s how I cope, I go and make sure everyone else is OK more than myself.”

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He added: “I think a lot of farmers find themselves in a competition with their neighbours all the time, and I don’t know if I like that.

“It’s great to have that funny banter but at the same time, we’re a team.”

On Kaleb’s recommendation, Jeremy Clarkson is running a farmers’ clubhouse with rainy day drinks tokens at his new pub, The Farmer’s Dog.

“If it’s a rainy day and you’re feeling a little bit s**t with the weather and everything going wrong, you can go into the farmers’ clubhouse, have a free drink and relax, and actually just talk through your problems rather than bottling them all up,” Kaleb explained.

Dreams don’t work unless you do

Another area close to Kaleb’s heart is new entrants into agriculture and the 26-year-old contractor launched a bursary last year to help students launch a career in the sector.

Noting the challenges of entering the industry without a farming background, he admits to having felt like an “underdog” at college.

“Everyone was very nice to me and so on, but I felt like I was the underdog because I didn’t have a farming background and everyone there was from a farming family.

“So therefore I thought they knew it all whereas I was like actually, I don’t know how that works, I don’t understand that and I was asking all these questions.”

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But Kaleb believes his background was actually an advantage: 

“My advice to anyone that’s getting into farming – just know that you’re a better farmer than the farmers’ sons and daughters straight away, because you’ve got that ambition to learn and take on new skills.

“I’m not saying that [farmers from a farming family] are bad, but I think if you’re born into it, you get stuck in your ways.”

He added: “Change is good. You see the world changing so we’ve got to change with it. It doesn’t matter if you’re the first person to do something and make other people change.

“And if you’ve got a dream, just remember, dreams don’t work unless you do.”

“You have to be positive”

Despite the numerous challenges facing farmers, Kaleb is positive about the industry’s resilience to cope with change.

“Farmers are problem solvers. Yes, OK, the climate changing or the weather’s getting worse, but let’s solve it, let’s work it out,” he said.

“You have to be positive. There’s a lot of problems out there that farmers face and I see that as a contractor.

“I work on 500 different farms, and I think when I go to these places, a lot of people have that negative feeling to them.

“But I go there with my positivity and just shine a little bit of a light on it again. 

“If you’re not positive, that’s when you start getting doom and gloom about stuff and it starts getting on top of you.

“I’m a positive person and I want to think I’ve got a future in farming.”

Kaleb Cooper’s third book, It’s a Farming Thing, offers a look behind the scenes of farm life, and is a tribute to his love of farming. It was released on 24^th October, published by Quercus, RRP £20. 

Kaleb’s solo show on Prime Video, The World According to Kaleb, meanwhile, is set to air on 29^th November and will show his UK tour, which started in early 2024.

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