Jeremy Clarkson Sunday Times Magazine "Farming" 23/1/2022

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
I liked Jeremy Clarksons "Farming" article in today Sunday Times Magazine, hope you can all manage to make it larger so you can read it.
 

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Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
we seem quite relaxed as a country to be building houses on good agricultural land, and bulldozing ancient woodlands for HS2, so why not a cafe to go next to a farm shop!
Perhaps especially in Clarksons case a lot of “sour grapes attitude” from those who opposed it. It would be interesting to know how some of those retired people that were against the application made their money or still making their money, wonder if any of them are property developers/ builders :banghead:
 
we seem quite relaxed as a country to be building houses on good agricultural land, and bulldozing ancient woodlands for HS2, so why not a cafe to go next to a farm shop!
I guess the fact that last year he became a sheep farmer and built a lambing shed and now he wants to make a cafe out of it is part of the issue. Unless it's a different building he's looking to use from my assumption.
 
It's a re-run of a scenario you will find countless times if you look for it.

Rich guy moves into a place, proceeds to spend millions on the place, with the associated grief construction, plant and traffic always cause. Rich man train set, I want so I should get. Seen it a load of times in Somerset. Planners agree to a few hair brained schemes but eventually they get fed up and fudge their plans by saying no.

There is a place for rich in comers who think they can do what they like. It's called London, a place where they will forever be surrounded by their own fudging kind.
 
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tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
I guess the fact that last year he became a sheep farmer and built a lambing shed and now he wants to make a cafe out of it is part of the issue. Unless it's a different building he's looking to use from my assumption.
Maybe he's not stupid and realised very quickly there isn't any money in sheep but there is in selling coffee and cake.
 
Maybe he's not stupid and realised very quickly there isn't any money in sheep but there is in selling coffee and cake.
Maybe so and maybe what he's doing with the whole farming idea and programme is showing the many in this country with no idea what uk farming is and despite his way of going about it i think its a good thing. But then maybe he was exploiting the system building the lambing shed to begin with where he did with full intention of then changing use and he's been caught out.
 

yellowbelly

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
N.Lincs
There's a way round it (until JC wins his appeal and opens his cafe anyway).

Once his cow has calved and is turned out, I'll sell JC half a dozen cade lambs.
He can then charge his punters £* to feed them and 'give' them a free coffee and a slice of cake.
Q.E.D.

*insert whatever is the price of coffee and cake (as I've no idea what that may be :scratchhead: )
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
I guess the fact that last year he became a sheep farmer and built a lambing shed and now he wants to make a cafe out of it is part of the issue. Unless it's a different building he's looking to use from my assumption.

Exactly this.

I wish he would stop making himself out to be fighting for the “common farmer”.

What he is doing is a hundred miles away from what a normal farmer would be doing.

I say this as a big fan of JC….but I don’t like his attitude in this case of going against the rules that anybody else in his situation would have to do……not to mention his scheme being 100x greater.
 

toquark

Member
I'm a fan of Clarkson, but the "lambing shed" (for 75 ewes!) which was built last year conveniently close to his shop but inexplicably miles away from the farmhouse was clearly a rouse for something else. The implication of it being a redundant steading is nonsense, its a brand new steel portal shed which could easily be repurposed, re-sited or dismantled and sold.

That said, his depiction of "Phil" did make me chuckle, I know a few Phil's, one of whom is actually called Phil, and they are invariably low-status individuals making up for their lives of quiet desperation by objecting to every planning application that goes on locally.
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
I was quite positive about clarksons farm originally but on reflection I think he playing a perfect pastiche of a moaning, ‘everything’s unfair’ farmer. And they are farming terribly I’m not surprised they can’t make any money. I keep seeing so many pictures of his farm shop, I feel sorry for other farmers in the area trying to make a go of diversifications that they actually need rather than it being a bit of fun.
 

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
Conditions of planning on new sheds around here state that if the new building becomes redundant within 10 years, it must be dismantled.
Presumably because they became tired of the stealers of urine, who were putting up industrial unit conversions under the guise of agricultural buildings.
 
and no one else ever "games" the system do they!
Plenty do but not in 12 months. Having said that if planning committees were half as sharp as they possibly should be they might have had a bit more foresight when the lambing shed was built/allowed.
Tbh i don't blame anyone who "works the system" one bit it's basically what the system exists for the issue is its not really enforced well enough as has too many holes in it. Trouble for most people is they don't have the money to fight the system or risk pushing the boundaries of it. Clarkson clearly does but it might actually have an adverse effect for joe public long term.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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