Jeremy Clarkson has admitted he and his team at Diddly Squat aren’t “doing any real farming this year” following a fresh set of challenges that have headed their way.
The former Top Gear star runs his own Cotswolds farm with the help of farm manager Kaleb Cooper, land agent Charlie Ireland, other half Lisa Hogan, and handyman Gerald Cooper.
However, not content with the farm being his own business venture, Clarkson’s Farm fans will know all too well that the presenter has looked further afield, with farm shop and pub projects also established.
Despite his entrepreneurial spirit, Mr Clarkson has made bones about how his businesses struggle to make money nowadays, whether it be thanks to adverse weather or government red tape.
Kaleb Cooper, Jeremy Clarkson and Lisa Hogan will return in Clarkson’s Farm season 5
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Now, in his latest attempt to try and recoup some of the cash injected into his agricultural business empire, Mr Clarkson has opted for a rather unorthodox plan.
The 66-year-old has decided to breed rabbits rather than do “any real farming”, claiming to have spotted a gap in the market for British-produced meat.
“Honestly, we’re not doing any real farming this year,” he told the Sunday Times. “I mean, there’s rabbits and market gardening – basically growing herbs for the farm shop – and that’s it.”
He explained why: “There’s no point. It’s impossible to make money. And next year the UK gets a carbon tax on fertiliser, on top of the fact that it already costs a million, billion pounds an ounce.
Jeremy Clarkson and Charlie Ireland
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AMAZON“The only crop that’s gone up in value is this,” he said, gesturing to a field of rape. “That’s because it’s an oil product.”
Mr Clarkson also went to dispel the myth that his idyllic work environment goes some way to offering a consolation for the financial challenges.
But he quickly rubbished the illusion, revealing that “bad days on the farm are horrific”, emphasising that they can be “truly awful”.
On his rabbit venture, Mr Clarkson outlined his thinking after discovering that British restaurants were importing rabbit meat from France.
Jeremy Clarkson runs his own pub in the Cotswolds
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AMAZON“So I thought, this year there’s no point trying to grow wheat. You are guaranteed to lose money. Same with barley. So we started rabbit farming,” he said.
“Some people say, oh, you can’t eat rabbits. I mean, why not?”
Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Clarkson touched upon his ongoing feud with Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
Over the past few months, the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host has pulled no punches with his public – and often personal – attacks on the wannabe PM.
Jeremy Clarkson has another two series of Clarkson’s Farm in the pipeline
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Mr Clarkson ridiculed Mr Polanski for his “adding up” after the Greens celebrated their performance in the recent local elections.
And just weeks before, Mr Clarkson slammed the Green Party leader for “siding with an antisemitic thug” following the political party leader’s response to the Golders Green terror attack.
Add to the mix a no-holds-barred assessment of the Greens’ economic policies, and it’s safe to say Mr Clarkson isn’t a fan.
Therefore, it will come as no surprise that when Mr Clarkson was asked by the publication whether Mr Polanski would be welcomed at his pub, The Farmer’s Dog, he emphatically replied: “No.”
Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper
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Mr Polanski follows in the footsteps of prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was famously banned from the pub as soon as Mr Clarkson opened its doors in August 2024.
The past year of farming challenges will be brought to viewers’ screens in season five of Clarkson’s Farm when it arrives next month on Amazon Prime Video.