As a new Farmer myself who bought our farm 4 years ago, I canāt tell you how accurate Clarksonās Farm actually is!
We spent Ā£3.5m buying our farm and subsequently in the past 4 years weāve had to spend at least Ā£527,000 on farm machinery and much, much more on running the farm. Weāve lost money every year since so far, and have had challenges or refusal from local authorities everytime weāve tried to diversity, or do something to generate extra income. I cannot stress how difficult it is for farmers who have to rely on farming for their only income.
We donāt get any subsidies or BPS payments at all (because weāre new farmers) and the grant system might as well be in Greek! As a CEO and professional businessman of some note, I felt I could easily apply for the grants myself. I kid you not, youāve never seen a more complicated form - for ANYTHING!
The farm we bought had been in the same family for 3 generations, but it was sold because it was getting tougher to support the farmers growing family and now Iāve been in it for 4 years I can see why.
Itās a crying shame that more and more food is going to be imported and more skills lost because, for some unknown reason, the government obviously donāt value farmers. Sad.