TV personality Jeremy Clarkson has recently released an Amazon Prime Series about his Farm in Oxfordshire. In it he attempts to farm for a year for the first time and let's just say it is rather entertaining! But many have asked me whether behind the jokes there is an element of truth, and having watched the series I believe there is.
While there is a lot of hilarity to the production as Jeremy is just a beginner, his shock and realisation at the difficulty of farming in every sense comes as no surprise to me as a member of the farming community. The precision with which farmers have to work, the financial struggles and the dreaded 'rules and regs' render their essential work at times almost impossible. This is perfectly summed up at the end of the last episode in which it is revealed that the profit for the year on an 1000-acre farm (double the average size) was just £144. This was partly due to a 40% loss on the previous year simply due to the weather (click here for my weather article).
Naturally, any series such as this should be taken with a pinch of salt. However, I would recommend it to anyone as it demonstrates the challenges farmers face in their everyday work to keep food on our shelves. As Jeremy himself says, not every farmer is so fortunate as to have 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' topping up their tractor fund. As a nod to his work for the farming community, Clarkson was named by the NFU as their Farming Champion 2021.
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