Somewhat late to the party, but here are some landed estate-related thoughts on season 3 of Clarkson’s Farm. 

As with many of our clients, Diddly Squat has increasingly been diversifying, in their case via a television-friendly competition, with Kaleb farming conventionally, and Jeremy trying various other income streams on the unfarmed parts of the land (the mushroom bunker was at least initially a particular success). To his glee, Kaleb beat Jeremy, with profits of £44,987 vs Jeremy’s £27,614, but with the overall profitability up 50,317% from the profit of £144 in season 1, Jeremy didn’t seem too disappointed. No doubt Jeremy’s two additional years’ experience have helped. 

In fact, the teamwork (vital to any business) between the two of them and Charlie Ireland seems to have gone from strength to strength as the series’ have rolled by. 

Jeremy also tried out regenerative farming, guided by Andy Cato of Groove Armada (according to Wikipedia they are still going) and now also of Wildfarmed. There is a fair amount of noise about this in the industry, and it can potentially be at least as profitable as traditional farming in the long run, despite the lower yields, thanks to low fertiliser and other input costs, environmental grants and increasing soil health. At Diddly Squat the profits were lower than from the traditionally farmed fields, but as Jeremy commented, hopefully the soil quality has been improved, doing good in the long run.

Speaking of grants, in one of the early episodes, Jeremy mentions that “the grants are gone” and how this has hit profitability and stability of income for farms. We didn’t hear about any remaining grant income, staff costs and any legal costs of the farm shop in the year end show-down, and perhaps the resulting scores from both Jeremy and Kaleb would have come out differently.

One avenue of diversification that has been shut off is the farm’s restaurant, with the council forcing Jeremy to close it down. It’s always important to stay on the right side of the authorities if possible! Interestingly, a new law has been announced (dubbed ‘Clarkson’s Clause’), meaning that farmers no longer need to apply for planning permission to convert unused buildings into new homes or shops.

The tax return for Diddly Squat farm must be quite an interesting one with everything from Capital Allowances for hovercraft to large legal costs to consider the treatment of. 

Already looking forward to season 4!