Jeremy Clarkson has revealed how his Diddly Squat Farm has suffered another ‘disastrous’ setback – describing the situation as ‘a worry for anyone who eats food.’
The former Top Gear host-turned-farmer, 65, took to X this weekend to vent his frustration at the state of this year’s crops while complaining of the perceived discrepancy between how the farming industry is treated compared to others.
‘It looks like this year’s harvest will be catastrophic,’ the Clarkson’s Farm frontman wrote.
He continued: ‘That should be a worry for anyone who eats food. If a disaster on this scale had befallen any other industry, there would be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.’
After another user replied that this would be ‘good news’ for vegans, who eat ‘imported soy,’ Jeremy clarified: ‘Er no. It’s the crops that have been disastrous.
‘I planted 400,000 beetroot. Two grew.’
Jeremy’s ‘catastrophic’ beetroot harvest comes after a summer of soaring temperatures in the UK.
In the comments below Jeremy’s post, fans shared their sympathy for his woes, with PsrHcl writing: ‘Oh ! So sorry to hear that. It does sound like we all have a tough year ahead!!’
DezrathNLR wrote: ‘I know nothing about farming, but good lord, that’s a terrifying percentage. Especially if that carries across all other farms, and why wouldn’t it? How the hell does that happen?’
‘Not again! That’s 2 year’s in a row. Too warm? Not enough rain? Too much rain?? Which was it?’, beaglesrockyes worried.
Whatever the root cause, this is another blow for Jeremy, whose farm reported an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) earlier this month.
bTB is one of the biggest challenges facing the cattle farming industry in the UK, and all infected animals have to be put down.
Announcing the news, Jeremy said on social media: ‘Bad news from Diddly Squat. We’ve gone down with TB. Everyone here is absolutely devastated.’
Speaking to Times Radio, the Grand Tour presenter described the situation as ‘bloody awful.’
He told presenter Peter Cardwell: ‘The disruption’s enormous, because you aren’t allowed to operate as a business.
‘You have to isolate them for two months. So, all the barns we needed to store the grain in, we now have to convert into a cow hospital.
‘We’ve got another calf with pneumonia, so that needs to be housed. And we can’t buy or sell a cow now because the farm officially, you know, has TB.’
The feeling of despair at Diddly Squat came accompanied by the sad news that one of his puppies had died.
‘We’re now locked down, and it’s just dreadful, absolutely dreadful,’ he said.
‘It’s only been not even 24 hours since I found out, and it occupies my mind. Well, it was occupying my mind, but I got up this morning and found one of my puppies has died. And we’ve got a very sickly calf.
‘Honestly, farming? I’m not enjoying it this week.’
Watch Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime Video.
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