Jeremy Clarkson has admitted there is a significant problem with his hit Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm, acknowledging that it fails to show the true poverty faced by British farmers.
The former Top Gear presenter, who has become a prominent voice in the farming community since taking over his Oxfordshire farm, made the admission following the recent protests.
Speaking just days after joining thousands of farmers protesting in central London, Clarkson highlighted how his show inadvertently masks the financial hardships experienced by many in the agricultural sector.
“One of the problems we have on the show is we’re not showing the poverty either, because obviously on Diddly Squat, there isn’t any poverty,” Clarkson said.
The protest, which drew between 10,000 and 40,000 demonstrators, focused on Labour’s proposed inheritance tax changes that would affect farmers with businesses worth more than £1m.
The controversial plans would impose a 20 per cent inheritance tax on agricultural businesses exceeding this threshold.
Clarkson joined the demonstration alongside a convoy of tractors, showing solidarity with fellow farmers concerned about their future.
The TV presenter expressed particular concern about how these changes could devastate farming communities, stating it could be “the end” for farmers.
He emphasised that the issue affects not wealthy landowners, but ordinary farmers: “I’m surrounded by farmers. I’m not going out for dinner with James Dyson.”
Clarkson painted a stark picture of the hidden rural poverty affecting British farmers.
“Trust me, there is absolute poverty,” he continued while speaking to The Times. “It’s people with 200 acres, 400 acres. Way past Rachel Reeves’s threshold. They are f***ed.”
The TV presenter highlighted how this financial hardship often goes unnoticed by politicians and the general public.
“It’s desperate being a farmer,” Clarkson explained. “I don’t know what the weather is like in London now. They’re out here in Oxfordshire in the pouring rain feeding their animals so that you and everybody else in the country can eat.”
He emphasised that rural poverty is often concealed, making it difficult for policymakers to understand the true challenges farmers face.
To illustrate the financial struggles, Clarkson shared the story of a young farmer who recently worked at his farm during Kaleb’s absence.
The woman, in her twenties, splits her time between working on her family’s farm four days a week and serving as a nurse for three days.
“She never goes on holiday. She never has a night off, can’t go out. She’s got no money to spend,” Clarkson revealed.
The young farmer has been learning everything about farming, hoping to inherit her father’s farm, which was passed down from her grandfather.
However, Clarkson explained that she now faces a daunting £600,000 inheritance tax bill, putting her future in jeopardy.
“Where is that money coming from?” Clarkson questioned about the £600,000 inheritance tax bill. “The only thing she can do is sell the farm. So all that knowledge she’s accrued, gone. She’s on the scrap heap, the farm is on the scrap heap.”
The presenter also offered a challenge to environment secretary Steve Reed.
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“I would like to have Steve Reed up to Diddly Squat and give him some jobs to do, when the pigs are giving birth and it’s so cold,” he said.
He highlighted the extreme conditions farmers face, noting that “the other morning the only way Kaleb could stay warm is to put his hands in the cow’s mouth.”
The controversy surrounding Clarkson’s stance was highlighted in a recent fiery exchange with BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire during the farmers’ protest.
Derbyshire questioned whether Clarkson bought his farm to avoid inheritance tax, prompting him to respond: “Typical BBC. You people!”
The heated discussion continued as Derbyshire referenced an article where Clarkson had written about tax benefits of farm ownership.
Clarkson disputed the claim, explaining: “Let’s start from the beginning I wanted to shoot, which comes with the benefit of not paying inheritance tax, now I do.”
He added that people like him could put farms in trusts, but questioned why farmers should have to go through such time-consuming processes.
