Jeremy Clarkson reveals how problems at 'Diddly Squat' farm left him on the verge of selling up
2 October 2023, 17:15
TV star Jeremy Clarkson has said he was on the verge of selling his Diddly Squat farm following bad weather and a crop "disaster".
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Diddly Squat farm made just £144 in its first year of farming and Clarkson's Farm viewers have seen the presenter's struggles with the council over building rows.
Filmed in the Cotswolds, the second series was the most popular original show on Amazon in the UK this year.
An uncommonly rainy summer doomed his crops, and inflation at the hands of the war in Ukraine meant his production costs rocketed.
Normally spending £40,000 on seeds, fertilisers, and sprays, he instead had to fork over £110,000 this year.
Reflecting on his time as a farmer, he wrote in his Sunday Times column: “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.”
Attempting to bring in more money, he started growing Lion’s Mane mushrooms to sell to “thin, rich women”. It failed at a food-checking facility.
All the setbacks forced Jeremy Clarkson to seriously consider ending his journey as a farmer: “So I’ve tried farming conventionally and it didn’t work. 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.”
In part, he decided to plough on because the Oxfordshire farm, worth up to £13million, could be passed on tax-free to his kids.
Series regular Charlie Ireland, nicknamed ‘Cheerful Charlie’, has already bought all the fertiliser for the next nine months.
So, according to Jeremy Clarkson, “The farming circle has begun all over again.”
