I know a fair few, I work with some farmers who have beef herds, so they can have a full time job and still manage small herds of 50-100.

My mates Sis married a dairy farmer, and that’s the opposite end of the scale. 15 hour days, and can easily go a couple of years without a day off. They’ve got 3 kids too, I dunno how she manages it at times, or outs up with it.

Between 70%-90% of farm income is subsidies, even the Nfu aren’t really sure. Even British Leyland did better than that but we have to eat.

Some big lowland arable farms do very well out of this thank you and will have the cars and toys. most upland ones make no financial sense at all but how do you get out? Who do you sell too? What do you do instead? The most profitable crop any farmer will ever have is houses.

Currently subsidies are on the old EU Rules and it’s not really clear what’s coming next as the government are saying different things to different people. One vision is food production gets more commercial and becomes industrialized in a smaller space and the grants are spent spent managing what’s left for nature, recreation etc.

Maybe we could start paying a fair price to the producers, and less profit for the supermarkets that screw them down.

Just a thought

The problem is the concept of ‘a farmer’ is so ridiculous as to be absurd. It’s like lumping everyone who sits at a computer for work together.

I teach the son of a farmer with 10,000 ha of arable down in Suffolk. Twin prop private plane, Ferrari F40 in the garage, talk of buying an island in the med. I live next door to a farmer here in the Highlands who’s kids qualify for free school meals. Within a two mile ride of me I could swing through one small immaculate farm where being a custodian of the land seems to be at the heart of everything they do and another that is a disgrace to the profession and are ostracised by the local farming community for their animal husbandry standards, their farm management, their polluting and their littering.

But to the urban keyboard warrior they are all just farmers.

I’m enjoying it, 3 episodes in. They do seem to have made things hard for themselves by getting a tiller and drill that’s narrower than the tractor, it’s as if they bought all the equipment for the little 60hp tractors they looked at, and then Clarkson went and spent his own dosh on the Lambo, which could probably pull stuff that about fifteen meters wide.

I’ll look up Harrys Farm on YouTube, thanks for the recommendation. I’ve watched Tom Pemberton who is pretty good, and also over in the USA, Cole the Cornstar is good entertainment and demonstrates the American way of huge equipment, and eeking out every bit of productivity from the land by stripping anything resembling a hedge or tree (look at the earlier stuff, more lately he has been playing with his house and getting a bit clickbaity. I think the last one is Grassmen from Ireland.

Surely the Lambo is just product placement, I can’t believe he’s daft enough to have paid for it.

I think they put 40 or 60k down when the land manager listed his equipment costs. So must be secondhand.

I was also impressed in Clarkson clacking around in a 14year old Rangie – I didn’t see anything more blingy in the background anywhere.

He does have 3 though, although the L322 does seem to be his fave. He did explain on Twitter the Lambo tractor was cheaper than all the others of a similar age, and now knows why.

Enjoyed it in the end. Wasn’t sure after the 1st ep but ended up sticking with it. Might even pay his farm shop a visit.

I hope they do a follow up series. I was a little surprised that they didn’t do more or rewilding or regenerative agriculture as clarkson mentioned the issues with topsoil so early on

How badly are farmers going to get screwed without their EU subsidies?

I’ve not read the details, but the locals in my parents village (it’s not a village, it’s 3 farms that built their houses back to back a few hundred yesrs ago for some company) have never seen so many ground nesting birds nests.

No one else has seen them, but they get their subsidies now based on how many nests there are so obviously they’re there. 😉

Im enjoying it so far (4ep in) – although it’s the usual Clarkson drama documentary. Entertaining, but complete drivel.

We live not to far from Clarkson farm, run a village shop, and can relate with the other ‘characters’ in the show. Having had previousa career in delivering new shops/ shopfitting/design and project management – the farm shop opening was a compete joke episode, but was great marketing at the time for the show which I seem to remember was supposed to come out last year.

it’s as if they bought all the equipment for the little 60hp tractors they looked at, and then Clarkson went and spent his own dosh on the Lambo,

Perhaps, but the tractor was presented as having been bought first.

Surely the Lambo is just product placement, I can’t believe he’s daft enough to have paid for it.

Lamborghini Trattori is a completely seperate company to Lamborghini Automobili and owned by completely different people.

I really enjoyed it but mostly because of the sheep.

They were the stars of the show, along with Kaleb.

Low point was the dig at the cyclist during the lockdown. Totally unnecessary.

Low point was the dig at the cyclist during the lockdown. Totally unnecessary.

The ironic thing is the cyclist is charlie quarterman, and it’s literally his paid profession to train on the bike

( see Will’s tweet https://twitter.com/WillTidball1066/status/1404489834383745025 )

Low point was the dig at the cyclist during the lockdown. Totally unnecessary.

The ironic thing is the cyclist is charlie quarterman, and it’s literally his paid profession to train on the bike

Its literally his paid profession to make derogatory comements about cyclists 😉

Whoever made the tractor the price on the books is too low (if either figure above is near the mark) which adds support to the idea it’s some kind of product placement deal.

Now and then Clarkson says something perceptive and useful. Somewhere around 1995 he described the rear suspension of the Frontera as rickshaw technology and he suppported remain. Apart from those two points I’m stuggling to think of anything.

The original Miura was made by the tractor company, that much I remember.

Finished it last night. Even the Clarkson-esque pondering was a little emotional after the books were revealed. I wonder whether the lifestyle will really persuade him to stay. The Bentley sequenced rather ruined a decent final chapter in my view.

Whoever made the tractor the price on the books is too low (if either figure above is near the mark)

He’s repeated in a number of articles cost him £40k second hand. There are a few R8s around that price.

Wouldn’t it be the depreciation over the lifetime of the asset anyway when working out profit? You wouldn’t just sub the cost of the asset in one year? (Well, you might do it on the TV for dramatic effect.)

https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/whats-in-your-shed/whats-in-your-shed-visits-jeremy-clarksons-400ha-farm

I enjoyed it, yes there are stage parts but the people that help him are the series. Kalib and Charlie make it.

Long and short of the series is it goes to show how hard it is to be a farmer, my brother has 200 acres half of which he has now turned over to re wilding and marsh as he gets paid for doing it and there are less hoops to jump through.

Sad fact of the matter is its going to get worse, Bullshit Boris is holding up the deal with Australia as the deal of the century when all they are after is a direct market with their lamb and beef, their PM even said so. We have a load of soft fruit farms around us and they are screwed at the moment because the migrant workers haven’t come to pick the fruit. Local adult and kids not interested in the work.

The farming industry will go the same way as our fishing industry, Boris will shaft them then look them in they eye and say they are being helped.

The original Miura was made by the tractor company, that much I remember.

No, it wasn’t.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lamborghini

And as pointed out, a couple of times now, it was bought second hand.

Ferruccio Lamborghini (Italian pronunciation: [ferˈruttʃo lamborˈɡiːni]; 28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993) was an Italian industrialist. In 1963, he created Automobili Lamborghini, a maker of high-end sports cars in Sant’Agata Bolognese.
Ferruccio Lamborghini

OMRI
Ferruccio Lamborghini.jpg
Ferruccio Lamborghini
Born
28 April 1916
Cento, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Died
20 February 1993 (aged 76)
Perugia, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Alma mater
Istituto Fratelli Taddia
Occupation
Mechanic; winemaker; industrialist; entrepreneur
Title

Cavaliere del Lavoro
Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana

[1]
Spouse(s)
1st wife: Clelia Monti (d. 1947), mother of Tonino
2nd wife: Anna Borgatti (divorced)
3rd wife: Maria Theresa Cane, mother of Patrizia
Children
2
Autograph of Ferruccio Lamborghini

Born to grape farmers in Renazzo, from the comune of Cento in the Emilia-Romagna region, his mechanical know-how led him to enter the business of tractor manufacturing in 1948, when he founded Lamborghini Trattori, which quickly became an important manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the midst of Italy’s post-WWII economic boom. In 1959, he opened an oil burner factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori, which later entered the business of producing air conditioning equipment.

Lamborghini founded a fourth company, Lamborghini Oleodinamica in 1969 after creating Automobili Lamborghini in 1963. Lamborghini sold off many of his interests by the late 1970s and retired to an estate in Umbria, where he pursued winemaking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Trattori

https://historyofyesterday.com/lamborghini-from-tractors-to-supercars-34c5ee9c8534

During this process, he realised that he could easily compete with Ferrari by using his tractor components in a supercar format leading to him potentially making triple the profits Ferrari was making.

Ffs Ed read what you’re actually posting, the car and tractor businesses were seperate companies! Just because he used tractor bits doesn’t mean it was the same company.

And in any case, even if they had the same owner then they certainly don’t now and haven’t since 1973!

Some smaller and older Lambo tractors for sale

https://farm.autotrader.co.uk/search?postcode=SW1A1AA&category=TRACTORS&make=LAMBORGHINI

Squirrelking, read back. I din’t even mention the cars in my first post, you jumped in assuming I had, I hadn’t.

Then you get upset about me pointing out that it’s the same guy with the same factories which in the early years of production of cars made parts for both.

For organisational reasons and to protect one activity from another in case of financial difficulties it’s common to have multiple companies, fact is that in the early days the cars and tractors were products made by the same boss using resources within his businesses. I’ve only refered to a period and a model made when that was the case.

Other people can read you know. Why do you provoke these spats? Because provoke you do, by “correcting” me on thngs I haven’t mentioned, accusing me of having my facts wrong when I haven’t. You need to pay more attention to what I have written and less to what you imagine I’ve writen.

Incidentally if ever you’ve had a good look at a Miura under that famous skin (I have, my neighbour had one) the way the parts are made is much more tractor than even 60s state of the art.

Awa and bile yer heid in a pan o yer ain pish.

You keep desperately trying to prove yourself right despite the fact it was pointed out before you even posted that it was second hand. I’m also struggling to see the relevance of a Lamborghini tractor product placement unless you were to believe they were the same company. Anyway, believe what you like.

Some smaller and older Lambo tractors for sale

And some Lambo R8s…

https://www.tractorpool.co.uk/used/a-Tractors/24/b-Tractors/95/c-Lamborghini/334/model/R8+270/

By pure chance, the camping and caravan club site MrsMC has booked us on is the one next to the Diddly Squat Farm Shop. There is an empty pitch and a hedge between our tent and his car park.

It’s been interesting since we’ve been back on the site this afternoon. Steady stream of high end supercars, Imprezas etc and a fair number of chavved up Corsas going in to have their photo taken next to the sign. And then struggling to get out cos of the mud. Lots of over revving, turbo whine, exhaust popping and wheel spinning as they struggle. To the point that someone sounding like he was connected to the farm shop came out and gave a driver an absolute roasting for being a dick.

And a fair few spectators on the road come to check out the cars as well.

Be interesting to see if this makes series 2. And I was a big fan of the first series, thought he probably educated a lot of people about the reality of UK farming, albeit in his own special way.

Made it to the end of the auction in episode 1. What a knob. Nothing endearing about him at all.

What a knob.

Well… obviously!

Really enjoyed the series though.

What a knob.

Well… obviously!

Really enjoyed the series though.

My view as well

Mrs Binners appraisal (who works for an environmental charity):

“I really enjoyed that, while at the same time still absolutely hating him”

Personally I reckon Clarkson is a very very intelligent bloke and that’s exactly the reaction he’d gone for

Most of my family are in farming, Dairy x 2 Arable x 1 Organic Beef x 1 & Organic Veg x 1

Their view is he is a knob, but the program has possibly shown some its not all “an easy job”

My sister is the Organic farmer (she is a member on here) and I helped fix her 1976 Ford 4000 last week while I was staying for a week. She is awaiting a 1985 SAME Explorer 75 (same firm that makes the Lambo Tractors, SDF)

1 dairy farm is struggling with pretty much everything due to a legacy of prices and bad luck (mostly TB) the other is just about profitable and due to the investment in 8 robot milking machines is seeing a better life, he even managed to go rallying in Anglesea last week! He is also lucky his 2 sons 13 years old both help out a huge amount.

The arable farmer is doing well as he grows mostly high quality milling wheat as I work in flour milling I do give him a guide at what wheats we are looking for next year

The Organic beef farm was a dairy farm previously, but sold some land and buildings in an area where you can’t get planning permission unless there are existing dwellings, kerching he could afford to do it.

Harrys farm is more of an education for those that want to progress on from Clarksons farm

It was pretty good.apart from when he tried to inject some of his ‘controversial political opinions’ into it.

Clarkson plays a specific character…thats his USP and had made him extremely successful and the fact he’s so polarising in terms of style means his strategy is working. Like most people playing a character we’re not sure what he’s really like, but that doesn’t stop people judging by appearances. Ultimately he’s done some stuff I like and some I’ve not, but I think this is one of his best things yet. I thoroughly enjoyed it but Harry’s farm is more informative but Clarkson is coming at it from an entertainment angle and Harry from a more ‘educational’ and a straight ‘day in the life of’ format so both can be enjoyed side by side. They’re neighbours anyway so you can bet your bottom dollar the Harry has been involved in the background somehow.

Not aware of any controversial political opinions he tried to push!

Not aware of any controversial political opinions he tried to push!

There was a couple of Brexitty “Euro H&S” throw away lines but he knows his market well enough to not offend too many.

Clarkson is definitely a character he plays. If you read his books, amongst all the anti cycling bull shit there is a surprising amount of pro cycling talk about providing proper cycling infrastructure. We all focus on the buts that support our opinions/perceptions/bias.

Having avoided the Clarkson/Hammond/May stuff since they left Top Gear and to be honest getting bored of their routines in the last few seasons of TG, this first season was surprisingly quite watchable. Finished it tonight, typically binge watching two episodes per evening. Have to admit I nearly ditched it early on because it felt like watching TG Clarkson pretending to be a farmer, but it grew on me, because among his gaffs there were glimpses of what farmers go through and Clarkson’s rapport with Caleb worked quite well.

The question is… Will the recently announced second series not feel stale?

Not aware of any controversial political opinions he tried to push!

There were a couple of anti-woke leftie type lines he pushed like “one avocado produces as much co2 as a year of driving a polo” which would be clear lies/jokes to most people, but there’s plenty of viewers who will take that shit at face value and use it to justify their own opinion.

Overall I enjoyed it, although I would have loved to have watched it with my dad (who is a farmer) to get his live reaction.

@n0b0dy0ftheg0at Depends what they do with it, doesn’t it?

“one avocado produces as much co2 as a year of driving a polo”

Apparently two small packaged avocados have a carbon footprint of 846g. Official VW Polo emission figure is 120g/km for the smallest engine so a VW Polo will need to drive for 3.5km to have the same CO2 footprint as an avocado. OK not a years worth of driving but quite surprisingly high. So behind Clarkson’s exageratted comment, which by-the-way- is actually supporting the environmentalists so hardly anti-woke, there is a real issue.

Apparently two small packaged avocados have a carbon footprint of 846g

Another reason to hate the nasty green abominations