Jeremy Clarkson has shared his predictions for the future of the farming industry at the Hawkstone Harvest Festival.
The event which took place at the Farmer’s Dog Pub last Friday, 4th September, celebrated the Hawkstone and Wildfarmerd collaboration which brought to life the Wildthing Lager.
To mark the achievement, Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Cato took to the stage and spoke about regenerative agriculture and the outlook for the industry.
When asked if he feels optimistic about British farming, Mr Clarkson said: “I’m not, because we’ve got Andy Burnham running the show. I mean, I genuinely don’t.
“I think that we have a very unhelpful government, and I don’t think there’s anybody out there who disagrees with that.”
The owner of Diddly Squat Farm described this season’s harvest as “dismal” and added: “We’ve got about 1,000 tonnes of hen food, is what we’ve got.” However, Mr Clarkson added he is hoping that the weather will be better next year.
“I know the BBC says this last summer was the coldest we’ll ever know from now on. I do not believe that. I think global warming is the thing; I’m not being stupid. The climate is changing, but I don’t necessarily think because we’ve had two hot summers that the next summer is likely to be hot as well.”
Mr Clarkson reminded the audience that 1977 was “nearly as hot”, but after two really hot summers, there was a break.
“I reckon it’s going to be a normal summer next year, guys,” he concluded.
If you don’t like the system, don’t depend on it’
Andy Cato shared with the audience why he chose to become a farmer. He explained: “It’s testament to the power of journalism for me.”
He continued: “I was going around the world playing records and having quite a nice time. I had a much easier life. I was coming back from a gig one day and picked up an article that was talking about the environmental consequences of food production and all of this.
“I’d never thought about any of that. It was pretty sobering reading, and it had a line in it which said, ‘If you don’t like the system, don’t depend on it’.”
Mr Cato said this is what persuaded him to try and become self-sufficient by growing his own veg.
He added: “I wasn’t very good at it, but I saw enough of it to get hooked, and what happened next is a spectacularly sized rabbit hole, and here we are.”
Mr Cato is the co-founder of Wildfarmed, a pioneering regenerative farming and food business that works with a collective of growers to produce wheat in harmony with nature.
